Life convicts Amarmani Tripathi, wife set to be released after 16 years in UP jail

The prisons department issued an order for the premature release of Amarmani Tripathi, citing the state's 2018 policy on remission, since they have completed 16 years of imprisonment.

Former Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani, who were convicted in the murder of poet Madhumita Shukla and awarded life sentence, are set to be released after the state government ordered their pre-mature.

The development comes after the Supreme Court refused to stay their release even as Madhumita's sister Nidhi Shukla strongly objected to the duo's early release from jail and claimed that the husband-wife spent most of their time in the hospitals.

Nidhi had moved the SC seeking stay on the pre-mature release of Amarmani and his wife but issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on the petition.

Earlier the UP prison department had on Thursday issued an order for the pre-mature release of Amarmani and his wife, who had served a little more than 16 years in jail, citing their good behaviour and the state's policy on remission of sentence.

According to the reports, Amarmani and his wife are currently admitted to the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur and were undergoing treatment there.

Nidhi Shukla, who urged the state Governor Anandiben Patel not to sign the duo's release order, claimed that the ex-minister and his wife had been admitted to the Gorakhpur Medical College since 2012. She also apprehended threat to herself and her family if Amarmani was released.

Madhumita Shukla, a poet, was murdered in 2003 at her Paper Mill Colony residence in Lucknow. Her family members alleged that the poet had been in relationship with Amarmani, who was then a minister in the Mayawati government, and was murdered after she insisted on marrying the politician.

The case was later handed over to the CBI, which arrested the husband and wife and two others. The trial was transferred to Dehradun and later the district court sentenced Amarmani, Madhumani and two others to life imprisonment. The Nainital High Court and Supreme Court also upheld their sentence.