Welcoming the inquiry, Amit Jogi said it should be conducted under a High Court judge, and maintained that the tapes were a political conspiracy and were forged.(Representational Image) Welcoming the inquiry, Amit Jogi said it should be conducted under a High Court judge, and maintained that the tapes were a political conspiracy and were forged.(Representational Image)

Acting DGP of Chhattisgarh D M Awasthi has instituted a four-member committee to probe allegations of financial dealings leading to withdrawal of the Congress candidate from a by-election for the Antagarh Vidhan Sabha seat in 2014.

In December 2015, The Indian Express had reported on tapes that purportedly included voices of Ajit Jogi and Amit Jogi, then with the Congress, as well as Dr Puneet Gupta, son-in-law of then Chief Minister Raman Singh, which suggested alleged financial dealings may have been behind the withdrawal.

The bypoll took place after the then MLA, Vikram Usendi, won from Kanker in the Lok Sabha polls that year. Eventually, even as the Congress alleged wrongdoing, Manturam Pawar of the Congress refused to contest, leaving BJP’s Bhojraj Nag a virtually uncontested path to victory. The Indian Express had reported that Independent candidates also alleged that they were threatened and asked to withdraw.

Nag finally contested against only one candidate — Rupdhar Pudo of Ambedkarite Party of India — who also alleged that he had been offered incentives to withdraw.

The Jogis were suspended from the Congress based on this. The father-son duo later formed the Chhattisgarh Janata Congress.

When contacted, Awasthi said, “There are four to five complaints in this case — in Raipur and Kanker. I have taken the decision to group these complaints together…(they will be looked into by) a four-member committee headed by Raipur SP Neethu Kamal.”

Welcoming the inquiry, Amit Jogi said it should be conducted under a High Court judge, and maintained that the tapes were a political conspiracy and were forged.

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