The cheating case against the former 42-year-old MLA was based on a complaint by BJP leader Sameera Paikra, who fought against Amit Jogi in the 2013 assembly elections from a reserved seat in Marwahi.

Paikra had earlier approached the High Court, accusing Amit Jogi of lying about his caste and birth date. While the court scrapped the petition saying that the term of that particular assembly had ended, the BJP leader had then approached the police to file a fresh complaint.

According to reports, Jogi’s house had initially been surrounded by police, following which he was arrested.

Commenting on his son’s arrest, Ajit Jogi said, “CM Bhupesh Baghel has lost his mental balance. He is so drunk with power that he has stopped caring about the judiciary. Three months ago Chhattisgarh HC gave a decision that allegations against Amit Jogi are false.”

The incident comes soon after an FIR was registered against his father Ajit Jogi in Bilaspur district, days after a government-appointed committee rejected his claim of being a tribal.

A high-level case scrutiny committee set up by the state government had dismissed Ajit Jogi’s claim of belonging to Scheduled Tribe (ST) and cancelled his caste certificates.

Ajit Jogi, who served as the first chief minister of Chhattisgarh, was booked for “fraudulently” obtaining caste certificates, said police.

Ajit Jogi’s claim of being a tribal has been rejected multiple times in the past too. The case against Jogi was filed on Thursday under Section 10(1) of the Chhattisgarh Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (Regulation of Certification of Social Status) Rules, 2013, on the direction of the district administration, Bilaspur SP Prashant Agarwal told news agency PTI.