Tripathi forced me to lie, says Lucknow pandit

In the Madhumita Shukla murder case, the CBI today arrested the priest who claimed to have solemnised the marriage of the slain poetess with an IIT Kanpur student. CBI sources said priest Ganga Narain Dixit, who had been evading arrest and absconding since June, was picked up from his village in Akbarpur this morning. During interrogation, he denied conducting the wedding and said he was ‘‘forced’’ to give a ‘‘wrong’’ statement by Amarmani Tripathi, the prime accused in the case. The priest had claimed that he had solemnised the poetess’ marriage with Anuj Mishra in 2002.