The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has rounded up the alleged killers of poetess Madhumita Shukla but their confessions present a prickly problem for the agency. The confessions give conflicting leads on who ordered the killing: Amar Mani Tripathi or his wife Madhumani?It is evident that Amar Mani’s cousin Rohit Chaturvedi acted as the facilitator for the crime and assigned Satya Prakash alias Santosh Rai and Prakash Pandey to eliminate Madhumita. All of them have been arrested by the CBI and more arrests, including that of Madhumani, are on the cards.This is what Pandey, a criminal from Gorakhpur, has told CBI interrogators about the task assigned to him: ‘‘Bhabiji ne bola hai ki Madhumita ki pitai karo (Madhumani asked for Madhumita to be beaten up.)’’ He has also described how he was approached by Santosh one evening at a tea shop in Gorakhpur and told: ‘‘Ek Kaam karna hai (one job needs to be done.)’’The CBI has also listed some 100 telephone calls between Madhumani and Chaturvedi in the days preceding and following the murder.Pandey claims that he did not know who Madhumita was when he was assigned the job. He has also confessed to having pinned down Madhumita on the floor first when he went to eliminate her along with Santosh and killed her with a single shot from a katta (country-made pistol).In his interrogation, Santosh has, however, directly implicated Amarmani. This is his version of the orders received by him from Chaturvedi: ‘‘Bhaisaheb ne kaha hai ki Madhumita ko sabak dikhao.aur uske liye Rohit ne mujhe bandook dilayee (Bhaisaheb (Amarmani) has said that Madhumita should be taught a lesson and Rohit gave me a weapon for the job.)’’CBI teams are now camping in Lucknow and Gorakhpur trying to verify the statements made by the accused and trace the weapon of offence. Interestingly, while Chaurvedi said ‘‘Bhabiji (Madhumani)’’ paid him Rs 10,000 for the job, CBI officers say they have information from Gorakhpur about Rs 6 lakh changing hands for the murder. Officials say they now expect to arrest persons who actually handed over the weapon of offence and cash to the killers.
