Madhumita Murder: Missing Accused Arrested

An accused in poetess Madhumita Shukla murder case, who went missing after the Uttarakhand High Court awarded him life imprisonment, was arrested here today, police said.

Prakash Chandra Pandey was arrested from his Shahpur residence, they said.

Pandey was earlier let off by the trial court for want of evidence but the Uttarakhand High Court on July 16 pronounced him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment, while upholding the life sentence of key accused Amarmani Tripathi, his wife and two others.

Accepting the plea of CBI, which demanded life sentence for Pandey alias Pappu, the court had directed the police to take him into custody immediately but he was untraceable.

Amarmani, his wife Madhumani and two others – Rohit Chaturvedi and Santosh Kumar Rai were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a Dehradun court in 2007 for hatching a conspiracy and killing Shukla, who was shot dead in Lucknow on May 9, 2003.

Amarmani has been an SP MLA and minister during the course of his trial before he was convicted in 2007. He was with the BSP and a UP minister when Madhumita was killed.

After thorough investigation, CBI filed a charge sheet against Amarmani, Rohit, Santosh, Pandey, Yagya Narain Dixit and Madhumani on December 19, 2003.

The trial of the case was later transferred out of Uttar Pradesh to Uttarakhand following a Supreme Court order.

After a trial that spanned more than 8 months, the district and sessions judge at Dehradun on October 24, 2007, convicted Amarmani, Madhumani, Santosh and Rohit and sentenced them to undergo life imprisonment.

The court had acquitted Pandey, who had visited the house of Madhumita along with Santosh on May 9, 2003.