Madhumita murder case: UP govt orders ‘premature’ release of Amarmani, his wife

In its order, the state government has directed Amarmani and his wife, who have been lodged in jail for over 17 years, to deposit two sureties of equal amount as per the satisfaction of the District Magistrate, and also a personal bond of the same amount.

The order also stated that if it is not necessary to keep the two convicts in jail in any other case, then the Gorakhpur DM can decide on releasing them.

On May 8, 2003, two assailants had shot dead 26-year-old Madhumita at her residence in Lucknow.

Later, Madhumita’s sister Nidhi Shukla claimed that Madhumita was close to Amarmani, who got her killed.

Amarmani was a minister in the Mayawati-led BSP government in the state at that time. Following the crime, Mayawati expelled Amarmani from the party and referred the case to the CBI, which arrested him, his wife and other accused.

Hearing a petition by Nidhi, the Supreme Court transferred the trial of the case to Uttarakhand. In 2007, a CBI court in Uttarakhand convicted Amarmani, Madhumani and two others, including Amarmani’s nephew Rohit Chaturvedi, for hatching a murder conspiracy and killing Madhumita.

In July 2012, the Uttarakhand High Court upheld the life term sentence by the CBI court to all four convicts. The court also handed down life imprisonment to Prakash Pandey, another associate of Tripathi.