Basti, 8 Dec: A five-member squad has been constituted under the supervision of circle officer Basti Sadar to apprehend former Uttar Pradesh minister Amar Mani Tripathi in a 22-year-old abduction case.
The action by the Basti superintendent of police (SP) comes despite increasing pressure from the MP/MLA court (chief judicial magistrate), Basti, seeking the former minister’s arrest and confiscation of property.
Gopal Krishna, SP, Basti, said that a team comprised of a circle officer, the in-charge of Kotwali police, the in-charge of the special operations group under the SP, and the in-charge of the Mahila police station will carry out the confiscation procedures in accordance with the court’s instruction. The next hearing in the matter is scheduled on December 20.
According to officials, the police team has begun the process of collecting the data of Tripathi’s properties, and court summonses have been issued to his Gorakhpur house. On December 2, Pramod Giri of MP/MLA Court, Basti, directed officials to begin identifying and attaching all moveable and immovable properties belonging to the former minister for failing to appear in court in the 22-year-old abduction case, despite the issuance of a non-bailable warrant and numerous chances to appear before the court.
The police’s harsh stance has exacerbated the former minister’s troubles in connection with the Rahul Gupta case, which was filed in 2001.
A case was filed against seven persons for kidnapping a schoolboy in Basti who was subsequently recovered at the former minister’s house in Lucknow: Hanuman Shukla Kaka, Ajay Mishra, Anand Singh, Ram Vilas, Jay Pratap Shivam Naini Sharma, and Amar Mani Tripathi.
On August 25, 2023, Tripathi and his wife, Madhumani Tripathi, were prematurely freed from life imprisonment in the 2003 murder of poetess Madhumita Shukla.
However, they remained in the BRD Medical College to receive treatment and avoided appearing in court on health grounds.
