Chhattisgarh: Former chief minister Ajit Jogi’s son Amit Jogi has been arrested on Tuesday for allegedly furnishing false information with regard to his citizenship during the 2013 state Assembly elections. A case under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code was registered against Amit and he was arrested by the police in Bilaspur.
Sameera Paikara, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate who had lost against Amit from Marwahi constituency during the 2013 Assembly polls, had filed a plea in the High Court. She had alleged that Amit Jogi had furnished false information about his date and place of birth as well as his caste.
With the High Court declaring that since the Assembly session, which was being referred to had expired, the plea would remain dismissed. But, refusing to relent, Sameera Paikara filed a complaint with the Gaurella police station alleging that Amit Jogi had falsely mentioned his birthplace as Sarbahra Gaurella, while he was born in Douglas, Texas in US. In the complaint, she had further mentioned that while his original year of birth was 1977, he had mentioned 1978 in the poll affidavit.
It may be recalled that former Chief Minister and Chhattisgarh Janata Congress founder Ajit Jogi too faced trouble on Friday when an FIR was registered against him in Bilaspur police station following a panel report refusing to recognise him as a tribal. During the previous Bharatiya Janata Party rule, a committee of the Tribal Welfare Department was formed to ascertain his caste status. It had declined to recognise him as tribal. Ajit Jogi had filed a plea against it in the Bilaspur High Court.
But the court did not accept the panel report, saying the high-power committee was not notified. Following instructions of the High Court, the state government again formed a committee on February 21, 2018. The committee, headed by D.D. Singh, submitted its report on August 23, in which it did not accept Ajit Jogi as a tribal and cancelled all his caste certificates. The committee decided that Ajit Jogi won’t be entitled to any benefit under the Scheduled Castes/Tribes Act. According to sources, the former Chief Minister had recorded his statement before the committee on August 21 after which the committee delivered its decision.
The committee had directed the District Magistrate of Bilaspur to implement its orders. Following the order, Tehsildar of Collector’s office, T.R. Bhardwaj, filed a complaint in Civil Line police station on Thursday night.
“A case has been registered against Ajit Jogi under Article 10(A) of the Chhattisgarh Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward classes (Regulation of Social Status Certification) Act, 2013. The police will initiate a probe after checking the matter,” said SHO Kaleem Khan.
