The High Court, Nainital, has upheld the life sentence imposed on ex-Samajwadi pary MP Amarmani Tripathi in the case of Madhumita Shukla's Murder on Monday. The punishment to all other accused in the case was also upheld. Amarmani's wife was also in the list.

Poetess Madhumita Shukla was allegedly murdered by Amarmani and his wife in 2003. Rohit Chaturvedi, Amarmani's nephew and a close relative Santosh Roy were also found guilty of the murder and they were sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court in Dehradun, Uttaranchal in 2007 October.

Prakash Chandra Pandey, the accused who has allegedly shot Madhumita was acquitted for insufficient evidence. Madhumita's servant, Desiraj was a witness in the case apart from Madhumita's sister.

CBI initially demanded death penalty for the 4 accused but the court felt that life imprisonment was the apt punishment for the committed crime.

Madhumita was found to be murdered on May 9th 2003, at her Lucknow flat. Amarmani's wife had arranged for the murder as Madhumita was found to be involved in an affair with her husband. Other sources however said that Madhumita was carrying the child of Amarmani and she refused to abort the pregnancy. Hence Amarmani got her killed.

The case moved to Dehradun after the relatives of the poetess have complained that they were under  constant threat.