M A I N   N E W S

Amarmani evading lie-detector test
Moves bail application
Tribune Reporters and agencies

New Delhi, September 27
Even as he has been declared medically fit by doctors, former Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi, arrested by the CBI in connection with the Madhumita Shukla murder case, is understood to be trying to evade the test citing health problems.

"He (Tripathi) has so far not given his written consent for the polygraphy test despite doctors declaring him medically fit to undergo the test," CBI sources said.

Written consent is mandatory under law.

Tripathi was taken to Safdarjung Hospital last evening after he complained of chest pain and doctors there conducted a thorough examination before declaring him fit to undergo the test.

Tripathi yesterday moved a bail application before the special CBI court in Lucknow citing his innocence and poor health.

According to the sources, he was responding to the queries of the CBI till yesterday but his attitude changed when he was confronted with Madhumita’s servant Desraj, a key witness in the case, who was brought here to corroborate the former minister’s statements.

Desraj told the agency investigators that Tripathi had visited the poet along with his servant Raju Pandit, a key suspect in the case, a few days before her murder at her Lucknow house on May 9 this year.

Pandit has been identified by Madhumita’s mother as one of the two suspected killers whose sketches were released by the CBI.

Lucknow: Meanwhile, Tripathi and his wife Madhumani has started looking for legal options to prevent the CBI from taking further action against them. She moved the Allahabad High Court seeking a stay on her arrest on Saturday.

Two days ago, Madhumani had moved an application in the special CBI court here, requesting for surrender despite the fact that she had not been made an accused by the CBI. Tripathi, who is in CBI custody, moved a bail application on Saturday.

“The applications are being moved in the court for putting indirect pressure on us. We are preparing a foolproof case with clinching evidence .Wait and see what happens,” said a CBI official on condition of anonymity.

Moving the application on behalf of Tripathi, his counsel said the CBI had so far failed to produce any evidence showing the involvement of the former minister in either the murder of Madhumita or tampering with evidence related to the case. Tripathi would remain in remand till Tuesday .

Meanwhile ,the CBI has launched a hunt for Madhumani and separate teams have been dispatched to Gorakhpur and Rampur to trace her. She is said to have gone underground apprehending her arrest.

The CBI has also issued a notice for interrogation to Congress leader Siraj Mehndi, former state president of the Nationalist Congress Party and a friend of Tripathi. The CBI, sources said, had served the notice with the hope that it could extract more details from him. Mehndi is in Delhi but has informed the CBI that he would present himself for interrogation on Sunday.