New Delhi: In a significant development ahead of the elections, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on October 7 filed a chargesheet against Chattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, accusing him of "deliberately" using "forged" documents to claim that Intelligence Bureau (IB) had launched a special operation to target him in the run up to the elections.

In the chargesheet filed in a designated court in New Delhi, a day after the Election Commission announced the schedule for polls in Chattisgarh on December 1, the CBI slapped forgery and cheating charges against Jogi, CBI sources said.

In March 2003, Jogi had alleged that IB's special directorate had launched an operation code- named "Black Sea" to target Opposition leaders, including Congressmen like him, in the run-up to the elections in Congress-ruled states. He also circulated some documents in support of his claim, copies of which was also sent to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Immediately after Jogi went public with his claim, Vajpayee ordered a CBI inquiry into the allegations, following which the CBI registered a case under Forgery and Cheating sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) on April 2.

The CBI chargesheet alleged that Jogi had used forged documents to tarnish the image of IB and claimed that the Chief Minister was in know how that the papers were forged.

This was a deliberate attempt to tarnish the image of a reputed office with the help of forged documents and also with malafide intentions to cheat the public by spreading the lie, the chargesheet said.

PTI