Shahdol (MP), Oct 16: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi was directed by a court here to appear before it today in a forgery case filed against him by BJP MP Dalpat Singh Paraste.
Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Nirbhay Singh Suliya issued the summon notice to Jogi on Paraste's allegation that the Congress leader had produced a forged Scheduled Tribe certificate to contest the 1999 Lok Sabha elections from Shahdol reserved constituency.
Paraste, who won the elections from Shahdol in 1999, had alleged in his complaint filed on September 14, 1999 that Jogi had produced ST certificate purported to have been issued from Pendra Tehsil in 1967 when that Tehsil did not exist at all.
He had contended that Jogi's grandfather Dular Satnami had been converted into a Christian and therefore the Congress leader was not eligible to contest from the constituency reserved for ST candidates.

Before moving the court, Paraste had complained to the returning officer as also the police in the run up to the elections, Paraste's counsel N D Shukla said.



Jogi became the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh after the new state was carved out of Madhya Pradesh.


Bureau Report