Former Uttar Pradesh minister Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani, serving life sentences in the poet Madhumita Shukla murder case, were released on Friday evening, ahead of the completion of their terms.

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

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the couple's release. The couple is currently admitted in the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur.

The prisons department had also cited the couple's old age and good behaviour. Amarmani is 66 and Madhumani 61, Gorakhpur district jailor A K Kushwaha said, adding that though the duo has been released, they will continue to remain at the BRD Medical College.

Tripathi's son Amanmani Tripathi told reporters here that his parents were under doctors' supervision and based on their advice, further steps will be taken.

Amarmani Tripathi, who was elected from the Nautanva constituency, was a minister in the state's BJP government in 2001 and also in the BSP government formed in 2002. He has also been with the Samajwadi Party.

During the day, the Supreme Court also issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh government, Tripathi and his wife, seeking their replies within eight weeks on a plea filed by the poet's sister Nidhi Shukla.

Nidhi Shukla, who had been in the forefront in this legal fight, earlier said she feared for her life and that of her family members in case the two are released.

Poet Madhumita, who was pregnant, was shot dead on May 9, 2003, in the Paper Mill Colony, Lucknow. Amarmani Tripathi was arrested in September 2003 in connection with the murder of the poet with whom he was allegedly in a relationship.

A Dehradun court had sentenced Amarmani Tripathi and his wife Madhumani Tripathi to life imprisonment for Madhumita's murder in October 2007. Later, the High Court of Uttarakhand at Nainital and the Supreme Court upheld the sentences. The case was probed by the CBI.

"I have been telling everyone that this is going to happen. I have procured the documents through an RTI which clearly state that 62 per cent of the jail term that the two are said to have served had been spent out of jail.

"I submitted documents to all responsible persons telling them that between 2012 and 2023 he was not in jail. The government documents, which I have got through the state information commission, after a long fight, bear this out," Nidhi Shukla told PTI earlier in the day.

She alleged that the Tripathis misled authorities to get a premature release.