In a significant move, the Uttar Pradesh government has issued an order to release former minister Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani Tripathi, who are serving life imprisonment after being convicted in the poetess Madhumita Shukla murder case.
On the permission of the governor, the Prison Administration and Reforms Department has issued this order, sources said here on Thursday night.
It has been said in the order that if it is not necessary to keep the prisoners in jail in any other case, then as per the discretion of the district magistrate Gorakhpur, they should be released from jail on presenting two sureties and a bond of the same amount.
About 20 years ago, the CBI had investigated the case of murder of Madhumita Shukla, who lived in Paper Mill Colony of the capital. In its investigation, the CBI had filed a chargesheet in the court. Later, the trial of this case was transferred to Dehradun.
Both have been in jail for the last 20 years, one month and 19 days. The rest of the sentence has been waived off considering their age, the period of sentence spent in prison and good prison conduct.
Amarmani and Madhumani have been released on the orders of the Supreme Court. Amarmani and his wife filed a mercy petition after the court had ordered the release of prisoners with good conduct in the jail. The court ordered the release of both, but there was a delay, on which Amarmani filed a contempt case, after which the government issued an order to release both.