Madhumita murder: Jailed Amarmani Tripathi,wife spend most time in hospital

Madhumita’s sister Nidhi Shukla said the couple made a mockery of their imprisonment with the connivance of authorities. She wants the two should serve their sentence according to the provisions of the jail manual. Under rules,they should be held in a central jail. However,they both are in Gorakhpur district jail,and the government has done nothing to send them back to Haridwar jail from where they had come.

Nidhi Shukla said she had written to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav,the DGP,Home Secretary and the SSP and DM of Gorakhpur regarding the couple’s illegal movement outside jail,particularly of Amarmani. She had demanded appointment of a medical board to ascertain their medical condition and to crack their nexus with doctors,but there had been no response.

Madhumani was sent to the medical college on the recommendation of a jail doctor on April 16. After arrival,she was admitted in a private ward. She was brought to Gorakhpur jail from Uttarakhand to face a trial in a case of cheque bouncing in 2008.

Sources said there was nothing seriously wrong with Madhumani to warrant her hospitalisation for three months. Hospital authorities say she has some psychological problem and pain in the spinal column.

But head of psychiatry department Dr Rajendra Chowdhary said he had no information about her condition and said associate professor Dr Tapas Kumar,would know. Dr Tapas declined to comment.

While Madhumani is mostly confined to hospital,Amarmani used to come out of jail every morning,ostensibly for physiotherapy at the medical college,and move around in his private vehicle,dressed in his own clothes and not in the jail uniform.

This continued regularly from mid-April this year to first week of July,except Sunday and holidays or when he was to appear before the court for hearing. Nothing in his schedule suggested he had any serious medical problem. “Tripathi went to medical college for physiotherapy as per call by doctor of BRD Medical College,” said Gorakhpur Jail Superintendent S K Sharma. In May,when the matter was highlighted in the media,the administration suspended four policemen,including a sub-inspector,who were on Tripathi’s security duty.

Former MLA from Maharajganj,Tripathi was convicted for the murder of poetess Madhumita Shukla,which took place at her Lucknow residence in 2003. At that time,he was in BSP. Party president Mayawati expelled him and referred the case to CBI. But the Samajwadi Party welcomed Tripathi with open arms. In the last Assembly elections,the SP gave the ticket to Tripathi’s son Amanmani Tripathi from Nautanva,but he lost.

Shooter Prakash Pandey goes missing

LUCKNOW: A day after the Uttarakhand High Court awarded life imprisonment to shooter Prakash Pandey in the Madhumita murder case,the Gorakhpur police have found itself in an awkward situation. For Pandey,who was in town yesterday,has gone missing as the police wait for a copy of the court judgment.

A native of Gorkahpur’s Mohadipur locality,Pandey was let off by a CBI court in 2007 for want of evidence. He The investigating agency moved the Uttarakhand High Court and challenged the order. According to information,on Tuesday morning,Pandey told some mediapersons who visited his house that he would comply with the court direction. Thirty-two-year-old Pandey belongs to a well-to-do business family of Gorakhpur. After his acquittal in the murder case,he was working as a property dealer. Sources said when the police visited his house on Tuesday evening,they found him missing. The Gorakhpur police say they had gone to Pandey’s residence just to check his presence because they have yet to receive any court direction for his arrest. “

“We have no information about the court order. Action would be taken if we gets any direct”on”,said Additional SP Lallan Singh. Madhumita’s elder sister Nidhi Shukla said she had informed the Gorakhpur police about Pandey’s conviction by the cour”. “The police should have put a vigil on him to ensure that he did not escape till they received the court order. But the police did not act and he escaped,’’ said Nidhi.