Kidnapping case: MP/MLA court acquits Aman Mani, two others

LUCKNOW: The special judge of the MP /MLA court (Lucknow) on Thursday acquitted independent MLA Aman Mani Tripathi and two others — Sandeep Tripathi and Ravi Shukla — of all charges in the Rishi Kumar Pandey kidnapping case of August 6, 2014.

Aman Mani and the others were present in court when additional district judge Pawan Kumar Rai, who is special judge MP/ MLA court, pronounced the order.

Aman Mani is an independent MLA from Nautanwa assembly constituency in Maharajganj district of eastern Uttar Pradesh.

“The MP/MLA court has discharged Aman Mani Tripathi and two others from all charges in the Rishi Kumar Pandey kidnapping case. The court did not find allegations levelled against them true,” said lawyer Manish Tripathi, who represented all three in court.

Rishi Kumar Pandey, a resident of Gorakhpur district, had lodged an FIR at the Cantonment police station in Lucknow on August 6, 2014, accusing Aman Mani, Sandeep Tripathi and Ravi Shukla of kidnapping him at gunpoint from the state capital at around 1am (on August 6, 2014).

In the FIR, Pandey had accused the three of taking him hostage when he was on way to New Delhi by a car along with his ailing wife, daughter-in-law and two sons for the treatment of his wife.

According to the FIR, the incident took place in front of the Housing Board office in the state capital when Aman Mani and two others forcibly stopped Pandey’s car and dragged him to their vehicle and sped away. Kidnappers had demanded Rs 1 lakh ransom and later dumped Pandey in front of the VVIP Guest House in the state capital at around 2.30am the same day, Pandey had claimed in the FIR.

The defence argued before the court that all allegations levelled against Aman Mani were politically motivated.

“How can you expect a well-off person who drives an expensive car to kidnap a person for Rs 1 lakh?” questioned Manish Tripathi. All charges were politically motivated, he added.