Former Uttar Pradesh minister and Samajwadi Party leader Amarmani Tripathi is in the eye of another storm. The Uttarakhand government is probing allegations that he used his mobile phone to address election meetings from jail.

Tripathi, prime accused in the Madhumita Shukla murder case and incarcerated in the Dehradun jail, is contesting the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections from Luxmipur constituency in Maharajganj district.

Uttarakhand CM B C Khanduri and the Chief Election Commissioner have both taken serious note of the alleged use of mobile phone by Tripathi from his jail cell here to address election meetings. After receiving complaints from UP, Khanduri ordered an inquiry into the matter.

Meanwhile, jail authorities denied the allegations. “There are mobile phone jammers and close circuit cameras installed near Amarmani’s cell and there is absolutely no way he could have used his phone,” Dehradun Jail Superintendent, B D Pandey, said.

Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy also asked the authorities in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to keep a watch on the reported use of mobile phones by Mukhtar Ansari and Tripathi to address election rallies. Ansari is lodged in a UP jail.