Basti (UP), Nov 17 (PTI) A court here has said that former Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi's property will be attached if he does not appear before it in a 2001 kidnapping case on December 2.

MP-MLA Court Judge Pramod Kumar Giri said this on Thursday, while hearing the case of kidnapping of Rahul Madheshiya, the son of city-based businessman Dharamraj Madheshiya, the government's counsel, Devanand Singh, said.

The court also directed the SHO of the Basti City police station to be present, the counsel said. It has rejected Tripathi's plea seeking more time to appear in court.

Earlier in November, the court had made a scathing remark against the Basti City police for not arresting Tripathi and producing him in court.

The judge had said, 'Why does it stop taking action against influential criminals? The functioning of the Basti superintendent of police (SP) in this matter is objectionable. Due to the police inaction, the accused is absconding.' He had added that the local police shows prompt action when a case involves ordinary poor criminals.

In its report to the court, police had said Tripathi could not be found in a raid on his residence in Gorakhpur but the court was not satisfied with it, the government counsel said.

The court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Tripathi on October 16 and directed the SP to constitute a special police team to arrest Tripathi and produce him in court on November 1.

On December 6, 2001, Rahul was kidnapped and a case was registered in connection with this against nine people, including Tripathi.

It was alleged that the house Rahul was rescued from belonged to Tripathi.

On August 25, the former minister and his wife, who were serving life sentences in the poet Madhumita Shukla murder case, were released from prison ahead of the completion of their terms.

The Uttar Pradesh prisons department had issued an order for their premature release, citing the state's 2018 policy on remission, since they have completed 16 years of their sentences. PTI COR ABN ABN ANB ANB