New Delhi, December 21
Two weeks after it registered a case against former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, the CBI today searched his and his son’s residence in connection with the cash-for-MLA scam.
Jogi and his family members were not present in the house when the agency sleuths began searching the residence allotted to him as the Chief Minister of the state, CBI sources said. He had not vacated the official residence as yet.
Jogi was alleged to have bribed BJP leaders to prevent the saffron party from forming the government in the state after the Assembly polls.
On December 9, the CBI had registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Jogi, his son Amit and defected BJP MP P R Khunte for allegedly trying to bribe BJP MLAs after the recent Assembly elections in the state.
The raids were also conducted at the Raipur and Delhi residence of Jogi and his son Amit.
The CBI sources said that some incriminating documents had been recovered from their residence which would be scrutinised.
The CBI had registered the case against all three also under Section 34 of IPC which stated that “when a criminal act is done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention of all, each of such persons is liable for the Act in the same manner as if it were done by him alone.” The FIR also cited Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) against all three of them besides some sections of Prevention of Corruption Act which included bribery and receiving grafts. The case was transferred from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Chhattisgarh, which had registered a case against Jogi when he was in office, his son Amit and defected Congress MP P R Khunte “under various sections of conspiracy and prevention of Corruption Act.”
The CBI was probing the case under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act under which the agency had jurisdiction over the entire state for carrying out its investigations.
The CBI had already found the bank account from which the money was allegedly given to the BJP legislator Virender Pandey besides examining some other witnesses in the scam.
The Forensic laboratory of CBI was also examining the audio tape containing purported conversation between Jogi and Khunte with BJP state secretary Virendra Pandey and Bastar party MP Baliram Kashyap. The CBI had also taken voice samples of everyone except Jogi for voice spectography test which would ascertain whether the audiotape was doctored or not.
— PTI
