Lucknow, June 17: The opposition parties today termed the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to recommend a CBI inquiry into the Madhumita Shukla murder case as a "belated step taken deliberately". "The CBI inquiry has been ordered after the evidence of the case were destroyed completely," state Samajwadi Party president Ram Saran Das told a news agency here.

"The CB-CID officials were made a scapegoat," he said adding the government itself was not sincere in ensuring that the culprits were punished. Das said the mother of the slain poetess had not yet been provided security despite her repeated demands.

UPCC president Jagadambika Pal said the decision for recommending a CBI inquiry into the matter was taken after the Congress Party moved a petition in the Allahabad High Court seeking directive to the government to order a CBI probe. Bureau Report