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Mayawati sacks Minister

By J.P. Shukla

LUCKNOW May 17. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati, today decided to drop the controversial Minister of State, Amarmani Tripathi, from her Cabinet pending an inquiry by the crime branch of the State CID into allegations that he was involved in the murder of a young poetess, Madhumita Shukla, in Lucknow recently.

She ordered the CID to complete its investigations within a month. If Mr. Tripathi was found innocent during the investigations, he would be reinstated. Otherwise he would be proceeded against under the law.

At a press conference at her residence here, Ms. Mayawati said her decision was to silence the Opposition which had been making false claims that her Government was trying to protect the culprits in the Madhumita murder.

The Chief Minister also announced the transfer of the Senior Superintendent of Police, Lucknow, against whom allegations had been made that he was trying to hush up the case.

Pointing out that she was quite clear about the attitude of her Government towards criminals, she said she had already announced that the place of criminals would be in jail and that they would not be allowed to roam freely. If Mr. Tripathi was found guilty, he would not be only kept out of the Ministry but would be expelled from the BSP as well, the Chief Minister said. The law would be equally applicable to all no matter whether he was "a mantri or santri" (a Minister or a sentry).

This is the second time that Mr. Tripathi has been forced to lose his ministerial post following allegations of his involvement in crime. While a Minister in the Rajnath Singh Government he had been sacked after revelations that he had been involved in a kidnapping case.

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