The CBI is likely to support Nidhi Shukla's petition in the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the case related to the murder of her sister.
NEW DELHI: The CBI is likely to support Nidhi Shukla's petition in the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the case related to the murder of her sister, poetess Madhumita Shukla, from a court in Dehra Dun.
CBI sources said its support for transferring the case from the court in Dehra Dun is part of an appeal now being vetted by the agency's legal department.
Uttar Pradesh MLA Amarmani Tripathi, who belongs to the Samajwadi Party, is an key accused in the case.
In its appeal, the CBI has brought out some key issues, including a threat issued by one of the accused to one of the agency's witnesses, the sources said.
The court in Dehra Dun also took note of this incident when the CBI moved an application before it, seeking immediate protection for its witness and a separate case against the accused.
In her petition in the apex court, Nidhi Shukla has said that she was shocked to discover on March 29 that the trial judge in Dehra Dun was somebody whom she had frequently seen at Tripathi s house.
"The trial judge is a close acquaintance and family friend of Tripathi," she said and narrated how her requests for a change of judge were turned down first by the district judge and then the Uttarakhand High Court.
The Supreme Court, while admitting her petition, had issued a notice to the CBI seeking its opinion about the case.
The CBI is also attaching in its appeal some other facts, including being at the receiving end in the local court for the late arrival of witnesses only because their trains were delayed.
The case was transferred from Uttar Pradesh to Uttarakhand under an order from the apex court in February after it was satisfied with the contention of Madhumita's family, backed by the CBI, that prime accused Tripathi would impede a free and fair trial in his home state.
Under the apex court's orders, Tripathi, his wife and co-accused Madhumani and two alleged hired killers -- Santosh Kumar Rai alias Satya Prakash and Prakash Chandra Pandey alias Pappu -- were shifted to the Dehradun Central Jail from Lucknow till the completion of the trial.
Madhumita, a poetess who reportedly had an affair with Tripathi, then a minister, was murdered on May 9, 2003 at the alleged behest of Madhumani, who was opposed to their relationship.
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