Lucknow. In or out of jail, Amarmani Tripathi has always benefited from ‘lucky breaks’ in his 40-year political career. The biggest break came for him on Thursday, when the Uttar Pradesh government announced the acquittal of him and his wife Madhumani in the Madhumita murder case. After being sentenced, Amarmani Tripathi, who spent a major part of the sentence in the hospital on various grounds, has been a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government. He was a four-time MLA. Has been associated with all the four major parties of UP, Congress, Samajwadi Party, BSP and BJP. He wins elections from jail. Now that he is out of jail, can he regain his dominance, the question remains.
Virender came into limelight after competing with Pratap Shahi
Experience matters in politics, not age. The average age of the members of the Rajya Sabha, the highest house of the country, is above 60. In such a situation, the discussion has intensified that 66-year-old Amarmani Tripathi will re-establish himself in today’s politics. Amarmani first proved his mettle when he took on Virendra Pratap Shahi, an influential Thakur leader of the area. He was once counted among the biggest Brahmin leaders of Purvanchal region of UP. The ancestral district touching the border of Nepal was up to Maharajganj as well as the surrounding districts. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s area Gorakhpur was also included in the districts under Amarmani’s influence.
Staying inside the jail, got himself and his son elected to the Legislative Assembly.
Amarmani lost the 1981 and 1985 assembly elections against Virendra Pratap Shahi, but the contest between the leaders of UP’s two dominant castes cemented Amarmani’s position as a Brahmin face in the region. Later, he won from Laxmipur assembly seat of Maharajganj in 1989, 1996, 2002. After joining Nautanwa after delimitation, he won from Nautanwa in 2007. In 2003, Amarmani was convicted for the murder of Madhumita Shukla and had to step down as a minister. Even after this, at the end of 2017, his son Amanmani won the assembly election from Nautanwa due to his influence. Political activist Vinod Kumar says, Amarmani Tripathi’s acceptability in Maharajganj can also be understood from the fact that in 2017, his son Amanmani contested as an independent from his father’s Nautanwa seat and won. However, he lost the Nautanwa seat in last year’s assembly elections.
BJP on a mission to improve its relations with Brahmins
Talking to ‘BollywoodWallah’, a former MLA from Maharajganj says, the world of external politics has changed a lot for Amarmani Tripathi. Most of the political parties in UP are fighting against the BJP. BJP is looking cooperative towards them. The Yogi Adityanath government ordered the premature release of Amarmani and Madhumani Tripathi under the policy made on the premature release of the culprits. Their release is proof of their closeness to the BJP. Through Amarmani Tripathi, BJP is going to improve its relations with Brahmins. It is no longer hidden.
political equations of political parties are going to change
Social thinkers and political experts openly tell about the next political step of Amarmani’s release, but also put a condition of not revealing the identity. Now it has come to light that political equations of political parties are going to change as soon as Amarmani comes out. Amarmani Tripathi, born in Farenda in the year 1956, always remained in headlines for opposing his political mentor Pandit Harishankar Tiwari. Tiwari passed away some time ago. Amarmani is being seen as a Brahmin face to fill his place.
From MLA to Murder Convict
Amarmani Tripathi took an unusual route to start his political career and contested his first election in 1981 on a CPI ticket. Soon, he established himself as a strong man. This is a tried and tested way of moving forward in politics in Eastern UP. After losing two consecutive assembly elections from Laxmipur in Maharajganj, Amarmani switched to the Congress and won his first election as the party’s candidate from the seat in 1989. After this, he was seen as close to late Congress veteran Brahmin leader Hari Shankar Tiwari. Nevertheless, Amarmani did not stay in the Congress for long and moved to the Democratic Congress. In 1996, he won from Laxmipur on a Loktantrik Congress ticket. When the party merged with the BJP, Amarmani remained a minister under BJP chief ministers Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh.
Mayawati expelled from BSP as soon as the allegations were made
Amarmani was in the BSP until the 2002 assembly elections, after winning his seat again, he was inducted into the Mayawati government, which was supported by the BJP. A year later, budding Hindi poetess Madhumita Shukla was shot dead by two assailants at her Lucknow residence. His sister Nidhi accuses Amarmani, saying that Madhumita was in a relationship with him and was pregnant when she was murdered. The matter caught fire and the then Chief Minister Mayawati expelled him from the BSP. The case was handed over to the CBI. The agency investigated and arrested Amarmani, his wife and other accused.
Check bounce cases registered in 2012
While in jail, Amarmani contested the 2007 assembly elections from his seat (now merged with Nautanwa) on an SP ticket and won. Later, after the petition of Nidhi Shukla, the Supreme Court transferred the case to Uttarakhand. In 2007, a CBI court sentenced Amarmani, Madhumani and two others, including Amarmani’s nephew Rohit Chaturvedi, to life imprisonment for conspiring to kill Madhumita. Amarmani and Madhumani were initially kept in Haridwar jail after their conviction. However, in 2008 Madhumani was shifted to Gorakhpur jail. In 2012, cases of check bounce were registered against Amarmani in Uttar Pradesh.
Currently back in BRD Medical College
In July 2012, the Uttarakhand High Court upheld the life sentence awarded by the CBI court to the four. The court also sentenced Prakash Pandey, another aide of Amarmani, who was earlier acquitted, to life imprisonment. Amarmani filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court, which was dismissed. In 2014, there was a controversy over the long stay of Amarmani, his wife and four other murder convicts at the BRD Medical College. Most of them were shifted to the hospital on the grounds of “depression and suicidal tendencies”. After the dispute, Amarmani and Madhumani were shifted to Gorakhpur Jail. He is currently back at BRD Medical College.
Got the benefit of the policy made on the premature release of the culprits
The Yogi Adityanath government ordered the premature release of Amarmani and Madhumani Tripathi under the policy made on the premature release of the culprits. Right now the issue of Amarmani’s release will remain pending because Madhumita’s sister Nidhi Shukla has written a letter to President Draupadi Murmu and Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel. Has opposed the release of the former minister and his wife. The hearing of this matter going on in the Supreme Court has also been cited. Shukla has made a fresh allegation on Amarmani of “misleading” her to get released. Nidhi has said that Amarmani spent more than half of her jail term at the Government Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College in Gorakhpur and fears for her life after her release. Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav has questioned the BJP government’s decision to release the Tripathis and equated it with pardoning the accused in the Bilkis Bano case.
Son’s murder case pending against wife Sara Singh
Second, in 2015, Amarmani’s son Amanmani was booked for the murder of his wife Sara Singh, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Firozabad district. The CBI said its investigation found that Amanmani fabricated the story of Sara’s death in an accident when he was trying to save a girl riding a bicycle. Convicted of murder by strangulation and causing the accident. In the charge sheet against her, the CBI said Sara was being subjected to “physical torture and cruelty” by Amanmani.
Allegations of trying to influence witnesses
Presently Amanmani is out on bail and the matter is pending in the court. Sara’s mother Seema has accused Amarmani of trying to influence the witnesses in the case, and has also expressed apprehension about her release. “Some jail officials made a false report of Amarmani’s good conduct inside the jail and misled the Supreme Court. Seema Singh says, “I request the CM to know the truth about Amarmani and present her in the court.”
Yogi policy that helped the Tripathis
In 2018, the Adityanath government formulated a premature release policy for life-sentenced prisoners, without setting any age limit for them. In 2021, the government amended it to stipulate that a life sentence convict would be eligible for premature release after attaining the age of 60 years. In 2022, the state government further amended it and decided to consider release of a life sentence for a crime like murder only after serving a jail term of 16 years without remission or 20 years with remission .
In this revised policy, the government also decided to consider premature release of life convicts who are below 60 years of age. Tripathi was eligible for premature release after completing 16 years of his sentence. This year, the UP Jail Department has so far ordered the release of 691 convicts under the policy. In June, one of six men serving life sentences for the 2005 murder of Indian Oil Corporation sales manager S Manjunath, who was trying to expose a corruption racket, was released.