Former Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi, who has a reputation of using strong arm tactics in politics, was on Wednesday convicted in the murder of poetess Madhumita Shukla and sentenced to life imprisonment along with his wife Madhumani and two others.Amarmani's cousin Rohit Chaturvedi and contract killer Santosh Rai were the other two convicted in the murder four years ago and given life imprisonment while Rakesh Pandey, who was accompanying Rai, was acquitted for lack of evidence.Holding all the four guilty, District and Sessions Judge V B Rai gave one year additional imprisonment to the Samajwadi Party MLA for wrongful confinement and threats to one Anuj Mishra, who was forced to claim that he was married to the poetess in the aftermath of the murder. He also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each on the convicts.Madhumita, who was pregnant at the time of murder, was having an affair with Amarmani, whose wife objected to it. She was murdered at her Lucknow flat on May 9, 2003 at the behest of Madhumani.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.The family of the slain poetess expressed dissatisfaction over the sentence and demanded capital punishment to the controversial politician.Amarmani and three others were present in the court when the judge delivered the judgement. He was taken back to the jail after the verdict and refused to react to it.His lawyer Vijay Vikram said the former minister would appeal in the High Court against the judgement.Amarmani, who was minister in the Mayawati government at the time of murder, joined the Samajwadi Party before a trial of strength in the state assembly later the same year.Following outbreak of a huge controversy, the case was transferred to the CBI and he was arrested but there were allegations that he threatened Madhumita's sister Nidhi Shukla, who carried on a campaign demanding fair trial, and others of her family.On the insistence of Nidhi Shukla, the case was transferred by the Supreme Court to Dehradun to ensure a free and fair trial.CBI counsels Baljit Singh and Raj Mohan Chand said they were satisfied with the verdict.They said they would examine the court verdict and decide whether to appeal against the acquittal of Prakash Pandey."Though we had demanded the highest penalty for all the accused, we are satisfied with the judgement," Chand said.Nearly 79 witnesses appeared in the case in which the poetess' sister Nidhi and her servant Desraj were the key witnesses.The family of the slain poetess demanded capital punishment for Amarmani and others convicted in the case.Madhumita's mother Shanti Devi said the verdict was ‘not a relief’ for the family as Tripathi had on previous occasions ‘threatened and harassed’ them.BJP and Congress in Uttar Pradesh welcomed the judgement. Former BJP state president Keshari Nath Tripathi said the court's ruling has sent a message that no one is above law.
