Amarmani, wife get life; shooter acquitted

POETIC JUSTICE: Madhumita's family fought a long, lonely battle against the might of a powerful leader.

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Keywords: Life Sentence, Lucknow

New Delhi: Former state minister of Uttar Pradesh Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani were convicted in the controversial murder of poet Madhumita Shukla on Wednesday.

Two other accused, Amarmani’s nephew Rohit Chaturvedi and an acquaintance Santosh Roy were also sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court in Dehradun, Uttaranchal.

A fine of Rs 50,000 each has also been slapped on them.

However, Prakash Chandra Pandey, the man accused of having shot dead Madhumita, has been acquitted on grounds of insufficient evidence.

Pandey had been identified by Madhumita's servant, Desraj, a prime witness in the case. Madhumita's sister Nidhi was another key witnesses in the case.

Though the CBI had demanded death penalty for all the accused, the court said the case was not the rarest of the rare and felt that the four deserved life punishment.It took only five minutes to pronounce the judgement.

Madhumita was found murdered at her Lucknow flat on May 9, 2003. Madhumita was allegedly murdered at the behest of Amarmani's wife Madhumani after she learnt that the poet was having an affair with her husband.

Another version says, Madhumita was pregnant with Amarmani's child. He wanted her to abort, but she was against it and so he got her killed.

It has been a four-year long legal battle for the relatives of poetess Madhumita Shukla.

The case was first being heard in Uttar Pradesh, but Madhumita's relative moved the Supreme Court seeking a transfer of the case outside the state fearing a lack of an impartial trial.

The case was then shifted to Dehradun, but her relatives allege that despite Amarmani being arrested in 2003, they are under constant threat.

CNN-IBN spoke to an eyewitness in the Madhumita Shukla murder case, Bhupendra Pandey, who said that Amarmani Tripathi might continue harassing Madhumita's family even from jail.

"Amarmani Tripathi had harassed the family and he can still harm and issue threats from the jail. What the family is saying is true," he said.

Her family say that it is a big victory for them for they had fought a lone battle against the might of the powerful and influential leader.

"I respect the court's verdict. I had lots of hope from the court. Amarmani tried all his tactics to get out of the case, but the fight has just begun. He should be kept in jail and should not be let out at any cost," says Nidhi.

Despite Nidhi's brave words, the family of the slain poetess expressed dissatisfaction over the sentence and demanded capital punishment for the controversial politician.

Earlier in the day, as the media thronged the Dehradun court, journalists were manhandled. The judge also barred mediapersons from entering the courtroom.