NEW DELHI, May 17: The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday sacked a powerful minister following a political storm sparked by the murder of a pregnant poet, officials said.

Chief Minister Mayawati booted out Stamps Minister Amar Mani Tripathi from the state government amid mounting pressure for his arrest in connection with the May 8 murder of Madhumita Shukla.

Shukla, 24, was shot dead in broad daylight in front of her servant.

The police have confirmed Shukla was pregnant and that she was having an affair with Tripathi but have declined to question him arguing that they do not have solid evidence against him.

The police are facing charges of shielding the ex-minister by tampering with evidence.

“The removal of Tripathi will silence the opposition and they will not be able to tarnish the image of my government on this count,” said Mayawati at a news conference in the state capital Lucknow.

Tripathi was widely seen as the hatchet man of Mayawati, who governs Uttar Pradesh with the legislative support of the Hindu nationalist BJP party.

Mayawati, who is a thorn in the side of the BJP because of her mercurial temper, said she would reinstate Tripathi if he was innocent.

“If Tripathi is cleared in the inquiry then he would be reinducted into the ministry and if he is found guilty I will expel him from my BSP party,” the chief minister said.

Mayawati also sacked the Lucknow city police chief Anil Kumar Agarwal although she described him as “honest and industrious.”

“He has been removed as Shukla’s family members had accused him of tampering with evidence,” she said.

She handed over the investigation to specially-designated homicide detectives.

“Everyone, from ministers to sentries, is on an equal footing in my government and the guilty, howsoever powerful he maybe, will not be spared,” she said.

The murder led to street protests Saturday in the Indian capital where activists from the National Women’s Rights Council group burned an effigy of Mayawati.

The opposition in Uttar Pradesh said it was not impressed with the sacking and India’s main opposition Congress party described it as a “mockery of justice.”

“The minister has been sacked only after all the evidence regarding the case was destroyed and this proves the government is not serious and is only shielding him,” opposition leader Azam Khan told reporters in Lucknow.

“It looks as if Tripathi is being sent on a month’s vacation... This is a mockery of justice.”

The regional opposition Samajwadi (Socialist) Party also attacked 45-year-old Mayawati.

“The truth will never come out if the state police is the investigating agency and so we are demanding the case should be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation,” said party leader Amar Singh.

Uttar Pradesh, which returns 85 MPs to the 545-seat national parliament, is the country’s politically most strategic state.

The state, with 130 million people, earlier this month earned the dubious distinction of reporting the largest number of deaths of suspects in police custody in the country. —AFP