Lucknow. Former Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi (66), along with his wife Madhumani (61), are set to walk out of Gorakhpur jail after 16 years, with the state government ordering their ‘premature release’ on Thursday. Both were found guilty of murdering 26-year-old poetess Madhumita Shukla in Lucknow in 2003. She was pregnant when she was killed. Later, her sister Nidhi Shukla claimed that Madhumita Shukla, who was close to Amarmani, had killed her because she was pregnant. killed .
Sentenced by the CBI court of Uttarakhand in 2007
In 2007, a CBI court in Uttarakhand convicted Amarmani, Madhumani and two others, including Amarmani’s nephew Rohit Chaturvedi, of conspiring to murder and killing 26-year-old Madhumita. In July 2012, the Uttarakhand High Court upheld the life sentence awarded by the CBI court to the four convicts. The court also sentenced Prakash Pandey, another associate of Tripathi, to life imprisonment.
The prisoner of room number 8 remained an open secret
Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani are at Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College, where they have spent a major part of their sentence under “treatment” for various ailments. Based on the media reports published from time to time, Amarmani Tripathi was kept in room number 8 of the Nehru Hospital of the Medical College for “treatment”. Although most days, he was found in room number 16 down the same corridor where his wife was admitted. The curtains on the doors were always drawn to avoid prying eyes. The windows were sealed. However, the treatment of two patients convicted of murder in this Nepal border town (Gorakhpur), 273 km from UP’s capital Lucknow, remained an open secret.
Amarmani Tripathi and wife Madhumani may be serving life sentences for murder, but since their transfer to Gorakhpur jail in 2012, it has mostly been their home. A huge house in pink sandstone, surrounded by walls and a gate, Mani Bhawan is located in Gorakhpur’s Durgwani area, about 10 km from the jail. Amarmani’s other properties include a house each in Lucknow’s Gomti Nagar and Hazratganj areas, Nautanwa has two degree colleges, gas agency and land in Balrampur and Maharajganj districts besides Lucknow.
Started his career as a sub-inspector
Amarmani started his career as a sub-inspector with his father Krishna Narayan in Trilokpur village, just two km from the Nepal border. His entry into politics was no different from others like him in eastern UP, who used to emerge as Bahubali. Let’s start in .He established himself near Gorakhpur in mid 1980s. Won his first election in 1996 as a Congress candidate. In 2002, after winning as a BSP candidate, he was made a minister in the Mayawati government. However, after the murder of Madhumita, he was dismissed from the ministerial post. It is another matter that there were already many cases against Amarmani who became a minister.
After 2007, no one from the family has won an election.
Madhumita’s murder did not dent Amarmani’s political fortunes at first. After the BSP was dismissed, he joined the SP. Amarmani won the 2007 elections from jail. Since then his family has been losing. His uncle Shyam Narayan Tiwari has not won an election since 2007. His brother Ajitmani lost the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Amanmani had lost in 2012.
When he came from Haridwar jail, he did not go back
Madhumita, the wife of Amarmani Tripathi, who was jailed in the Madhumita murder case, also spent a lot of time in the hospital. His sentence also underwent medical treatment. Madhumita’s sister Nidhi Shukla said that the couple had made fun of their imprisonment in connivance with the authorities. She wanted that both should serve their sentence as per the provisions of the jail manual. Under the rules, they should be kept in the Central Jail. However, They are both in the Gorakhpur district jail, and the government has done nothing to send them back to the Haridwar jail from where they came.
Madhumani was sent to the medical college on April 16, 2012, on the recommendation of a prison doctor. After her arrival, she was admitted to a private ward. In 2008, she was shifted from Uttarakhand to Gorakhpur to face trial in a check bounce case. was brought to jail. Madhumani was admitted to the hospital for three months, but no one knew that she had a serious illness. Later the hospital authorities issued statements that he had some psychological problem and pain in the spinal column. Madhumani was mostly confined to the hospital. Amarmani used to come out of jail every morning, ostensibly for physiotherapy at the medical college, and move around in his private vehicle, wearing his own clothes and not the prison uniform. From mid-April to the first week of July in 2012 continued regularly. except on Sundays and holidays or when he was required to appear in court for hearing
When the pole opened, the policemen were suspended
In May 2012, when the matter was highlighted in the media, the administration suspended four policemen, including a sub-inspector, on Tripathi’s security duty.