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Bid to hush up poetess' murder?

By J.P. Shukla

LUCKNOW MAY 13. Asked to explain the presence of criminals in her party when she had promised that their place would be in jail, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati, had said some time ago that her company was enough to reform criminals!

The experience of the past year, however, gives the impression that her confidence was misplaced. The activities of controversial MLAs whose support she had taken to save her Government did not prove that they had reformed.

The latest incident relates to the Minister of State, Amarmani Tripathi, a suspect in the murder of a young poetess, Madhumita Shukla, last Friday. After the Samajwadi Party and the Congress demanded that he be arrested and dismissed, the Chief Minister merely said a proper investigation would be held. The poetess' sister had charged that he had illicit relations with Madhumita which had been resented by his wife. Madhumita had been pressuring the Minister to marry her and that was why she had been eliminated, her sister alleged.

Police said they had been able to collect several pieces of evidence to link the Minister with the crime. That included mobile telephones, clothes and diaries. They also got a second post-mortem examination conducted to remove the seven-month-old foetus. However, they did not take any steps to conduct the DNA test to ascertain who was the father.

The only witness to the crime, a boy servant of Madhumita, had told presspersons about Mr. Tripathi's relationship with the poetess. However, soon after police took him away to an undisclosed place. While accusations continued that the State Government was doing everything to hush up the case, the authorities have decided not to speak. Mr. Tripathi has a long police record. While a Minister in the Government of Rajnath Singh, he had been involved in a case of kidnapping which led to his dismissal from the Government.

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