Ajit Jogi

New Delhi, Oct. 8: A Delhi court has summoned Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi on November 18 after taking cognisance of the CBI charges against him for allegedly tarnishing the image of the Intelligence Bureau.

“Considering the entire documents and material placed on record before me, I take cognisance of the chargesheet filed against Ajit Jogi for the offences under Section 471, read with 465 and 469 of IPC,” metropolitan magistrate Shahabuddin said. He directed the prosecution to serve the summons on Jogi through the investigation officer.

Earlier, Shahabuddin heard the arguments of the CBI counsel but reserved his order till 4 pm. The CBI had filed the five-page chargesheet yesterday.

The CBI’s special public prosecutor, Jacob Daniel, told the court Jogi had cooperated with the investigations. Asked if there were plans to arrest him, Daniel said there was no need to take him into custody as a chief minister was unlikely to abscond. Daniel said Jogi possessed forged IB documents, which he had “dishonestly/fraudulently” used as genuine to harm the reputation of IB special director .C. Padhi, the bureau and the Centre. He had even circulated the documents to the media without confirming whether they were genuine.

The counsel said Jogi did not even wait for a reply to his letter to the Prime Minister, who later wrote back that the document was fake. Handwriting experts had confirmed that Padhi’s signature was forged, he added.

CBI director P.C. Sharma today refuted allegations of political interference in the case. “We investigated as per the directions of the cabinet secretariat,” he said, adding extensive investigations were done in which even the IB officers were questioned.

He refused to be drawn into the chargesheet controversy. “I will not reply to any political questions, but the chargesheet was filed within the legal provisions,” he said about the Congress allegation that the chargesheet was filed against a complainant (Jogi).

Investigations revealed that Jogi flew to Delhi on March 29 for a meeting. He has claimed that he was handed over the purported IB documents listing his assets but has wavered on how exactly he received them, the CBI officials said.

The CBI had registered a case on April 2 on a complaint from the cabinet secretariat alleging forgery of a document under the code name “Black Sea”, purportedly issued by the IB listing his assets and bank accounts.

Protest chain

The 8033 Howrah-bound Ahmedabad-Howrah Express and other trains were held up by a human chain at Raipur junction this morning as part of a protest across Chhattisgarh against the chargesheet.

In response to a bandh call by the Youth Congress and the NSUI, major shopping and business establishments remained shut in Raipur. Banks, schools and petrol pumps, too, were shut. Inter-state district buses kept off the roads. Reports from Durg, Rajgarh, Jagdalpur and other districts said the bandh had affected life.