The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)

2001 kidnapping case: Victim moves court, claims accused ex-up minister has ‘no role’

- MANISH SAHU

THE ALLEGED victim in a 22year-old kidnapping case in which former UP minister Amarmani Tripathi is the prime accused has now filed an applicatio­n before a Basti court seeking permission for a “compromise” in the case. In his applicatio­n, the victim, who is now in his 30s and was a minor at the time of the incident, claims that Amarmani has no involvemen­t in the kidnapping and adds that he does not know or recognise him (Amarnani).

The case is pending in court. Amarmani is absconding and following a court directive, police are attaching his properties. The kidnapping case was initially filed by the victim' s father, who died several years ago .“the victim appearedbe­fore the court on friday ,” said government counsel Devanand Singh.

He added that the applicant has requested to make his applicatio­n part of the case and the court is yet to take a decision in this regard.according to the prosecutio­n, the victim has claimedtha­t he has “no dispute” with Amarmani and has “never met him”. Also, at the time of his “kidnapping”, no one mentioned Am arman i’ s name, the victim has claimed in his applicatio­n.

On August 24 last year, the

Uttar Pradesh government ordered the premature release of Trip at hi and his wife mad hum a ni, serving life imprisonme­nt in the 2003 murder case of a poet, Madhumani Shukla, in Lucknow. The government had said then that Tripathi and his wife showed “good behaviour while serving the term ”. According to the prosecutio­n, in 2001, the victim was allegedly kidnapped in bas ti district. The police later found him purportedl­ylocked up in a house that was allegedly in the possession of Amarmani and booked nine persons, including the former minister, in the case.of the total accused, one person has died and two others have been at large after jumping bail, police said. The case files of five of the accused have been separated from those of the remaining. Their trial has begun, sources said.

Despite multiple summons, Amarmani Tripathi failed to appear in court, prompting the issuance of a non-bailable warrant against him in October last year. In November, the court declared A mar mania pro claimed offender and directed the attachment of his properties.

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