Mulayam defends controversial MLA

Meerut, UP, Oct 31 (UNI) Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today defended his constroversial MLA Amarmani Tripathi, recently convicted by an Uttarakhand Court in the infamous Madhumita Shukla murder case.

Talking to reporters here on the eve of a two-day state level convention, Mr Yadav said the lower court's decision to hand him down life imprisonment was not final. ''There is High Court, then the Supreme Court,'' he said.

Madhumita Shukla, a budding poetess and allegedly the lover of Amarmani, was gunned down from a close range in her two-room apartment in Lucknow's Paper Mill Colony on May 9, 2003. Phone calls relating to the murder were traced to his wife Madhumani in Gorakhpur, who has also been implicated in the murder.

Amarmani was arrested in September 2003. Various attempts at getting bail have been turned down, especially based on the DNA evidence of a relationship which he had initially denied.

A special court in Dehradun has convicted former UP minister Amarmani Tripathi and three others in the Madhumita Shukla murder case on October 24 2007.

The court has sentenced Amarmani, his wife Madhumani and two other accused to life imprisonment. Nearly 79 witnesses have appeared in the case, which was transferred to the Court of District and Sessions Judge V B Roy from Lucknow on the orders of the Supreme Court, earlier this year.

UNI