New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday declined to stay the release of former Uttar Pradesh Minister Amarmani Tripathi, convicted in the sensational 2003 murder of poet Madhumita Shukla.
Nidhi Shukla, sister of Madhumita Shukla, had moved the apex court against the release of Amarmani Tripathi and his wife, who have been serving a life term since 2007. The Uttar Pradesh Prisons Department, in an order, said they will be freed on the basis of 'good conduct' in prison.
A bench comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi issued notice on Shukla’s plea and sought a reply from the Uttar Pradesh government in eight weeks. The apex court declined to interfere with the release for now. The apex court said if it were to agree with the petitioner’s contention then it could send Amarmani Tripathi and his wife back to the prison.
Madhumita Shukla, a 24-year-old fiery poet and allegedly Tripathi’s lover, was murdered on May 9, 2003, and her body was found at her home in Lucknow's Nishatganj area. Amarmani Tripathi, then a minister in Mayawati's government, was seen as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) boss' right-hand man and had initially claimed he had nothing to do with the cold-blooded murder. However, a DNA test by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) indicated that the child the deceased was carrying when she was shot dead was Tripathi’s.
The Supreme Court had transferred the case from Lucknow to Dehradun after Madhumita Shukla's family feared Amarmani Tripathi may interfere with the judicial process.
