LUCKNOW: After two days of high drama, former Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani, prime accused in the sensational Madhumita Shukla murder case, on Thursday surrendered before the District and Sessions Judge here.

The Supreme Court had cancelled their bail bonds on Monday following which the high- profile couple had filed an application Tuesday for surrender.

But due to lawyers' boycott to protest the lathi-charge on their colleagues in Allahabad on Monday, they could not surrender even after a two-hour-long drama at the court premises on Wednesday.

The two are main accused in the murder of 24-year-old city poetess Madhumita Shukla.

In his order, District and Sessions Judge Shiv Charan Sharma said an application of surrender by ruling Samajwadi Party MLA Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani was filed by their counsel. ``The two accused are taken into custody at 1541 hrs.'' The two are now under judicial custody which will continue till the time a bail is not obtained.

In another application, the couple have also sought a special security vehicle. Accepting the application, the judge ordered the District Magistrate and the SSP (Lucknow) to provide them with the same.

The next date of hearing has been fixed for October 6

In his order on Wednesday, the judge had maintained that as the situation was tense and it was not feasible to accept the MLA's surrender.

Outside the court premises, Amarmani had told newspersons on Wednesday that he had been trying to follow the orders of the apex court and added: ``But the lawyers are not allowing me to enter the court.''

It was on September 20, 2003 that Amarmani was arrested by the CBI from his residence here after his DNA samples matched with the seven-month-old foetus of Madhumita. UNI

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