Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
Ashok Bhan and R.V. Raveendran

JUDGMENT

Ashok Bhan, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. The State of Uttar Pradesh through CBI aggrieved by the orders dated 29th April, 2004 and 8th July, 2004 passed by a Single Judge of Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) in Crl. Misc. Case No. 1402(B)/2004 and No. 1954(B)/2004 releasing the accused Amarmani Tripathi (Accused No. 5) and Madhumani Tripathi (Accused No. 40 on bail have filed these appeals.

3. On 9th May, 2003 Madhumita Shukla was shot dead in her house located in Paper Mill Colony by two persons who were later on identified as Santosh Kumar Rai and Prakash Chandra Pandey. Investigation in the case revealed that Madhumita Shukla was killed pursuant to a conspiracy involving Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Smt. Madhumani Tripathi, Nidhi Shukla lodged a Report in regard to the blind murder of her sister Madhumita Shukla on 9.5.2003 in the Mahanagar Police Station, Lucknow. The case was transferred to Crime Branch, CID on 17.5.2003. On a request made by the State on 17.6.2003, the CBI took over the investigation.

4. The case of the prosecution in brief is as follows:

Amarmani Tripathi, a Minister in the U.P. Government, at the relevant time, was having an affair with deceased Madhumita Shukla, a young Poetess. This led to Madhumita's pregnancy thrice. On the first two occasions, the pregnancy was aborted at the instance of Amarmani. On the third occasion, inspite of pressure and persuasion by Amarmani, Madhumita refused to abort the pregnancy. The post-mortem revealed a six month old fetus in her womb. D.N.A. test of the fetus established the paternity of Amarmani. Madhumani Tripathi, wife of Amarmani, was upset when she learnt about the illicit intimacy between Amarmani and the deceased. She made several calls to the deceased and her family members to threaten and abuse them. During the end of March, 2003 Madhumani Tripathi informed one Rohit Chaturvedi (cousin of Amarmani) that she was troubled by her husband's ........