Lucknow: Former Uttar Pradesh minister Amar Mani Tripathi, who is in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody in connection with the murder case of poetess Madhumita Shukla, filed a bail application in a court in Lucknow on September 27.

The application was filed in the court of Special Judicial Magistrate (CBI) R M Yadav, Tripathi's lawyer Vijay Vikram told PTI.

In the bail plea, Tripathi claimed he was innocent and that there was no evidence to link him with the murder of Madhumita, the lawyer said.

"Tripathi has been arrested for the purpose of harassment," Vikram alleged.

The former minister was arrested on September 21 after his DNA samples matched that of the foetus of the slain poetess.

He was remanded to judicial custody till October 6 by CBI court which later allowed the investigating agency to have his custody for seven days beginning September 23.

Madhumita was shot dead at her residence in Lucknow on May 9.

PTI