Basti (Uttar Pradesh), May 2 (IANS): The MP-MLA Court in Basti has directed district police to confiscate the remaining properties of absconding former MLA Amar Mani Tripathi in Gorakhpur.

The court gave the order after receiving an anonymous letter giving details of Tripathi's properties in Gorakhpur.

The court will now take up the matter on May 15.

On April 13, police had attached two rooms of former Minister Tripathi's Maharajganj office and put its seal on it.

This action was taken against Tripathi after he failed to appear in a criminal case pending against him.

He and his wife Madhumani were serving life sentences in the Madhumita murder case and were set free in August 2023 following directives of the Uttar Pradesh prison administration and reforms.

A senior police officer said that taking cognisance of the letter, the judge ordered the Kotwali police to investigate and confiscate the property mentioned in it.

Due to the non-appearance of the accused Tripathi in another case of kidnapping, the court had ordered the attachment of all his properties.

The letter contained details of various properties of Tripathi, including houses on Babina Road, Durgabari, and Suraj Road in Gorakhpur.

The police said if the properties mentioned in the letter were in the name of Tripathi they would be attached.

On December 2, the court declared Tripathi a 'proclaimed offender' and directed the police to attach his property in connection with the kidnapping case. However, the Basti police failed to do so.

According to the prosecution, in 2001, businessman Dharam Raj Gupta's son Rahul Gupta was allegedly kidnapped from near his house in Basti. The police later found Rahul locked up in a house purportedly under the possession of Tripathi and booked nine people, including the former Minister in the case.

Of the nine accused, one has died and two others have been absconding after jumping bail, the police said.

The case files of the five other accused have been separated from the rest.

The court recently framed charges against them and the trial has begun.