The Hindu : Madhumita murder: CBI arrests ex-U.P. Minister

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Monday, Sep 22, 2003

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Madhumita murder: CBI arrests ex-U.P. Minister

By Our Special Correspondent

Photo: Subir Roy

The former Uttar Pradesh Minister, Amarmani Tripathi, being arrested by the CBI in connection with the Madhumita Shukla murder case, in Lucknow on Sunday.

LUCKNOW SEPT. 21. The former Uttar Pradesh Minister, Amarmani Tripathi, was arrested here today by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the poetess Madhumita Shukla murder case. A CBI team, headed by two officers of the Deputy Superintendent rank arrested Mr. Tripathi from his Lawrence Terrace residence minutes after he addressed a press conference to proclaim his innocence.

According to the CBI Deputy Inspector-General of Police, L.N. Bera, the agency had found grounds to proceed against Mr. Tripathi under Sections 302 (murder), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (fabricating evidence, misleading the investigation and destroying evidence). Mr. Tripathi, a Minister in the preceding Mayawati Government, is a suspect in the murder of young Madhumita at her Paper Mill colony here earlier this year.

At the time of her murder, Madhumita was pregnant and the foetus was sent for DNA test to verify the paternity.

The case was first handled by the local police but was soon transferred to the State CID. As public pressure mounted, Ms. Mayawati dropped Mr. Tripathi from the Council of Ministers and handed over the case to the CBI.

UNI reports:

Mr. Tripathi said his arrest was part of a political vendetta. "This is part of a political vendetta and I am being implicated," he told reporters while being taken away by the CBI sleuths. He said the CBI was taking him "forcibly" without sufficient reasons.

Meanwhile, Shanti Devi, the mother of the murdered poetess, welcomed Mr. Tripathi's arrest. Talking to reporters at her residence in Lakhimpur Kheri district, she criticised the SP supremo and Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav, for inducting Mr. Tripathi in his party despite his "criminal record."

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