Two weeks after it registered a case against former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Sunday 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 CBI began searching the official residence allotted to him as the chief minister, CBI sources said. Jogi is yet to vacate the house. Raids were also conducted at the Raipur and Delhi residences of Jogi and his son Amit.
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The suspended Congress leader is accused of offering bribes to BJP leaders to prevent the saffron party from forming the government in Chhattisgarh after the assembly polls.
On December 9, CBI registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Jogi, his son Amit and Congress MP P R Khunte, who defected from the BJP before the polls, in this regard.
The CBI registered the case against all the three also under Section 34 of the India Penal Code, which states 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 cites Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) against all three of them besides some sections of Prevention of Corruption Act, which includes bribery and receiving grafts.
The CBI had taken over the case from the state Anti-Corruption Bureau, 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 the Prevention of Corruption Act."
The CBI is probing the case under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act under which it has jurisdiction over the entire state for carrying out its investigations.
It has already found the bank account from which the money, allegedly given to BJP legislator Virender Pandey, came and has examined some witnesses.
The CBI's forensic is examining the audiotape purportedly containing a conversation between Jogi and Khunte with Pandey and Bastar MP Baliram Kashyap. It had taken voice samples of everyone except Jogi.