New Delhi, April 24 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the April 2 Chhattisgarh high court order convicting former lawmaker Amit Jogi in the 2003 murder of a political opponent, questioning how he could be sentenced without being heard. The stay came as Amit Jogi, son of the late former chief minister Ajit Jogi, was supposed to surrender on Thursday as per the high court's order sentencing him to life imprisonment. "How can a sentence be passed without hearing the accused?" asked a bench of justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and Vijay Bishnoi. "The effect and operation of the judgment shall remain stayed." Amit Jogi challenged the high court's reversal of a trial court's acquittal order in 2007, arguing it was done without hearing him. The high court called the acquittal "palpably illegal, wrong, perverse, contrary to the evidence available on record and without any concrete basis." In 2007, the trial court convicted 28 people for Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ramavtar Jaggi's murder in June 2003, but acquitted Amit Jogi, citing insufficient evidence. The Chhattisgarh government appealed against the acquittal, claiming it had initially investigated the matter. In August 2011, the high court said the state had no right to file an appeal as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probed the case. In January 2004, Chhattisgarh recommended the CBI probe into the murder, as Jaggi's son, Satish Jaggi, expressed dissatisfaction with the Chhattisgarh Police probe. The CBI named Amit Jogi among the accused. The CBI concluded that Amit Jogi and four others conspired to disrupt a June 2003 NCP rally by targeting Ramavtar Jaggi. It said a meeting to finalise the plan to disrupt the rally was held at the chief minister's residence in May 2003, where Ramavtar Jaggi was chosen as the prime target. On Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a notice on Ajit Jogi's appeal against the high court order to the CBI and the complainant, Satish Jaggi. Senior lawyers Kapil Sibal, Mukul Rohatgi, Vivek Tankha, and Siddharth Dave appeared for Amit Jogi. Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, who appeared for Satish Jaggi, pointed out that the Supreme Court in November 2025 allowed the CBI to file an appeal challenging Amit Jogi's acquittal, observing that a technicality will not come in the way of probing grave charges. In 2011, the Chhattisgarh high court dismissed the CBI's appeal against the acquittal, citing a delay in filing it. The high court noted the CBI filed the appeal against the May 2007 order after a delay of 1373 days....