Madhumita help gets tech-savvy in police custody

His last job as a domestic help was at the house of slain poet Madhumita Shukla, when he served tea to her killers on May 9.Now, in custody ...

His last job as a domestic help was at the house of slain poet Madhumita Shukla, when he served tea to her killers on May 9.

Now, in custody for the past five months, 13-year-old Deshraj flops through computer games and has begun understanding how a lie-detector works and also how the CBI operates when it needs information out of an accused.

	Tripathi allowed to attend Assembly

	LUCKNOW: A CBI court on Monday allowed former UP minister Amar Mani Tripathi, jailed in connection with the poetess Madhumita Shukla murder case, to attend the Budget session of Uttar Pradesh Assembly. Tripathi was arrested by cbi on September 23 and has been in judicial custody since. Tripathi would be taken to the Assembly every morning from the jail and brought back after the day’s business. The court also directed tripathi to make himself available for questioning whenever required. (PTI)

Life has changed for the boy after he was taken into unofficial custody by the CBI to help identify Madhumita’s killers and give ‘‘inside information’’ on the proximity of the poet with jailed Samajwadi Party legislator and prime accused Amar Mani Tripathi.

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His parents have had no objection with his being under the CBI’s wings, but now with the identification of the murderers, Santosh Rai alias Satya Prakash and his accomplice, there are indications that Deshraj will be set free.

A resident of Godahia village in Bahraich district, Deshraj has seven brothers and sisters. Driven by poverty, he accompanied his maternal uncle to Lucknow in search of a job and his search ended at Madhumita’s Paper Mill Colony residence. For a month after the murder, he had to face police and CB-CID questions for being the only eyewitness, before the CBI stepped in. ‘‘The boy is intelligent and has picked up well. He lives with us like a family member,’’ said a CBI official, on condition of anonymity.

Deshraj has an easy access to computers and he loves playing games on them. From being a docile domestic help who rarely spoke, Deshraj has grown in confidence — which showed in his recorded conversation with Tripathi in the presence of the CBI officials . Deshraj told Tripathi: ‘‘Tum Kabool kyon nahin karte, Tumhare chakkar me CBI hamein tange ghum rahi hai (Why don’t you accept your complicity. It is because of you that the CBI is dragging me here and there).’’

CBI officials are worried for the boy’s future because of his association with the agency. ‘‘In our country, there is no such provision to rehabilitate the key witness at a different place with a new identity,” said a CBI official.