It reads like a romantic thriller — a love affair, an unborn child, a jealous wife and a murder — only that it’s the CBI chargesheet outlining the events leading to poet Madhumita Shukla’s murder in her own house.The chargesheet says that Madhumita’s ‘‘lover’’, former UP minister Amarmani Tripathi, had forced her to have an abortion twice but failed to convince her the third time. He joined in the murder conspiracy hatched by his wife Madhumani fearing an impending scandal that could ruin his political career. Apart from promising marriage and lavishing gifts on her, Amarmani had also helped the poet purchase a house in Lucknow. When Madhumani found out, she started making threat calls to the poet and her family. She also persuaded a neighbour of the poet, M. Pratap, to keep an eye on her, the chargesheet adds.While the chargesheet cites a 2001 incident when Madhumani forced her way into Madhumita’s house and assaulted her, it says the murder was planned this year. In March, Madhumani summoned Santosh Kumar Rai, alias Satya Prakash, Rohit Chaturvedi and said she wanted to teach Shukla a lesson. The two — both accused in the case — decided to wait, fearing Amarmani’s reaction. The following month, Madhumani called them again and said the poet had to be killed as she was carrying Amarmani’s child. The chargesheet says Amarmani was involved in the conspiracy at this stage, who stressed that his name should not figure at all.On May 6, the chargesheet says, Chaturvedi met Rai and another accused, Prakash Pandey, and assured them money and good contracts through the minister for committing the crime.On May 8, Amarmani went to Nautanwa to address a press conference but postponed it to keep an alibi ready, says the chargesheet. The same day, in Lucknow, Pandey borrowed a country-made firearm from a friend. Rai and Pandey visited the poet’s house, knowing she was not at home, and left a message with her servant Desraj that Satya Prakash had come to see her, the chargesheet says.On May 9, the two revisited her house in the afternoon. Once the servant left to prepare tea, they closed the door and shot Madhumita with a 0.303-bore firearm. They bolted the room from outside and fled, the chargesheet says. The chargesheet also states that the minister had concocted the tale of Madhumita’s marriage to an IIT student, Anuj Mishra, to shield himself but gradually fell into the CBI net.
