Lucknow,September 06 : Politicians have so much of ill gotten money and they never cease to be manipulative, even when behind bars.Former UP minister Amarmani Tripathi, who is serving a life sentence in the Varanasi Central Jail for the murder of poetess Madhumita Shukla, had been out of the prison for the past two months.
Tripathi, a fair- weather ally of all major political parties in UP, including the BSP, SP and BJP, had secured an admission at Sir Sunder Lal Hospital in Banaras Hindu University ( BHU) after two other hospitals had stated he was perfectly fine.
But then, like all good things, his “ freedom” suddenly came to an end on Monday evening.
Within an hour of the state government officials feigning ignorance about him cosying up in a hospital, he was sent back to Varanasi Central jail.
The state government hurriedly constituted a medico- legal team to investigate whether Tripathi stayed in the hospital because of genuine health problems or influenced the hospital and jail staff to spend time away from prison.
Special director general of police Brijlal, who till Monday afternoon, said he did not know Tripathi was out of jail, had to order an inquiry a few hours later.
“ We have to find out how a prisoner serving life term was living in a hospital for the last two months,” he said in the evening.
Chief minister Mayawati too is likely to take action against some doctors of the BHU hospital.
A special court in Dehradun had found Tripathi guilty of murder of the 24- year- old poetess, with whom he had an affair. He and his aides had eliminated her when she got pregnant and mounted pressure on Tripathi for marriage.
Known for leading a lavish lifestyle even in jail, Tripathi was granted permission by a court to attend the last rites of his mother in Maharajganj district on July 13.
The next day he managed to get himself admitted to the BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur, on the basis of a letter from the hospital authorities saying he was suffering from a spinal cord ailment.
Later, a court in Sidharthnagar allowed him to attend another ritual after his mother’s death on July 18. But Tripathi again returned to the hospital the following day.
When the Varanasi jail authorities asked BRD Medical College to send him back, the authorities there referred him to Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences ( SGPGI), Lucknow, on September 2. However, the doctors at SGPGI found him medically fit and refused admission.
Tripathi also went to Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University in Lucknow. But there, too, the doctors declared him in good health.
Finally, he managed to get a bed in the hospital at BHU on the pretext of chest pain, an excuse which he is known to have given at least two dozen times since his arrest in October 2003.
Tripathi was minister for stamp and registration in the Mayawati- led BSP- BJP coalition government when the crime was committed on May 9, 2003.
He was awarded life imprisonment in October 2007 and was denied bail by the Supreme Court.
Before joining the BSP, Tripathi was with the Congress and had left the party with 18 MLAs to support the Kalyan Singh- led BJP government.
He was also part of the Rajnath Singh- led BJP government and held the post of minister of institutional finance.
But Rajnath dismissed him after his name figured in the kidnapping of Rahul Madesia, the 15- year- old son of a businessman from Basti district.
He was arrested and put behind bars. But the BSP fielded him in the 2002 assembly elections and Mayawati appointed him a minister. Later, he was dismissed after the CBI found evidence against him in the Madhumita murder case.
A SCHEMING POLITICO
Amarmani Tripathi is the perfect turncoat — he has been associated with the BSP, Congress, SP and BJP during the past 10 years
His claim to infamy lies elsewhere: The history sheeter is serving a life term for getting promising poetess and girlfriend Madhumita Shukla murdered when he found out she was carrying his baby
He secured an admission at a BHU hospital by faking illness two months ago to take a break from his stint at the Varanasi Central jail
His bluff was called on Monday and he was promptly sent back to prison
UP chief minister Mayawati has ordered a probe against her former minister and a few heads are set to roll at the Varanasi hospital for ‘ sheltering’ Amarmani when other hospitals refused to admit him as he was not ill