2001 kidnapping case: Victim moves court, claims accused ex-UP minister has ‘no role’

He added that the applicant has requested to make his application part of the case and the court is yet to take a decision in this regard.According to the prosecution, the victim has claimedthat he has “no dispute” with Amarmani and has “never met him”. Also, at the time of his “kidnapping”, no one mentioned Amarmani’s name, the victim has claimed in his application.

On August 24 last year, the Uttar Pradesh government ordered the premature release of Tripathi and his wife Madhumani, serving life imprisonment in the 2003 murder case of a poet, Madhumani Shukla, in Lucknow. The government had said then that Tripathi and his wife showed “good behaviour while serving the term”.

According to the prosecution, in 2001, the victim was allegedly kidnapped in Basti district. The police later found him purportedly locked up in a house that was allegedly in the possession of Amarmani and booked nine persons, including the former minister, in the case.Of the total accused, one person has died and two others have been at large after jumping bail, police said. The case files of five of the accused have been separated from those of the remaining. Their trial has begun, sources said.

Despite multiple summons, Amarmani Tripathi failed to appear in court, prompting the issuance of a non-bailable warrant against him in October last year. In November, the court declared Amarmani a proclaimed offender and directed the attachment of his properties.