The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Chief Justice of the Chhatisgarh high court to change the trial court judge hearing Nationalist Congress Party leader Ram Avtar Jaggi's murder case.

Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi's son Amit is an accused in the case.

The bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat said that the chief justice in consultation with the district judge will allocate the trial of the case before another judge.

The trial has to end before May, the Supreme Court said.

However, the bench made it clear that this order will not caste any aspersions on the judge who has been trying the case till now. The court said that it was agreeing with the plea to change the judge as the approach and the submissions in this regard were legally correct.

Jaggi's son had moved the application seeking change of the trial judge Sanman Singh on the ground that he was the brother of Gulab Singh, who is a legislator of the opposition Congress party.