Madhumita murder case: another witness alleges threat

LUCKNOW: Yet another Madhumita murdercase key witness has sent an SoS to the CBI charging prime accused AmarmaniTripathi with issuing life threats if he did not withdraw as witness from theCBI case against the former minister.In a letter written to the CBI,Najib Khan, a resident of Chowk, has alleged that two henchmen of AmarmaniTripathi had knocked at his door on September 16, 2004 at 11.30 pm. When he didnot open the door due to fear of being killed, they hurled choicest abuses andissued life threats asking him to withdraw himself as witness in the caseagainst Amarmani or face consequences."How long will you hide fromus...You have to live in this city...CBI is in Delhi and they won''t come to yourrescue or save you from us. Once the case is over, we will fix you," he statedin the letter.Khan claimed that he rang up the nearest policestation to seek help but once he mentioned the name of Amarmani, the policemanwho attended the phone hung up saying that "talk to seniors."Khan,who was also known to Madhumita and her sister Nidhi, is a key CBI witness inthe Madhumita murder case.The CBI is all set to produce Khan as awitness in the trial court to support its DNA test report by establishing thatTripathi had an extra marital affair with the slain poetess and her pregnancyultimately became the reason for her murder.But after the September16, 2004 incident, Khan is scared and running from pillar to post to getsecurity. "I would be forced to change my identity and move out of Lucknow to asafer place if the CBI did not provide security to me," he said after sendingletters to the DIG, CBI and SSP, Lucknow.Earlier, similar complaintswere lodged with the CBI by Madhumita''s mother Shanti Devi and sisterNidhi.