Engineer's lynching: accused legislator's remand extended

Lucknow, Jan 3 (IANS) An Uttar Pradesh court Saturday extended till Jan 7 the police remand of ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator Shekhar Tiwari, who is accused of murdering a government engineer.

Tiwari is in jail in Etawah district, some 250 km from here.

The chief judicial magistrate's court in Auraiya district also issued a non-bailable warrant against Yogendra Dohre alias Bhatia, another accused in the murder of M.K. Gupta.

Dohria, the BSP's Auraiya district president, is at large, according to the police.

Gupta was lynched in Auraiya district of central Uttar Pradesh Dec 24 after he refused to shell out a hefty sum of Rs.5 million allegedly demanded by the legislator as a 'contribution' for Chief Minister Mayawati's birthday bash Jan 15.

State police chief Vikram Singh maintained that the engineer was killed because he refused to buckle under the legislator's pressure to award contracts to his henchmen.

'The slain engineer declined to pay extortion money to the MLA's goons,' Singh told a press conference Saturday.

He, however, could not explain the delay on the part of the police to track down four key accused in the murder - Dohre and three others, including inspector Hoshiar Singh.

'We will get them soon,' Singh said.

'We have announced a reward of Rs.2,500 on Dohre, and we will soon announce a reward on the inspector also,' Singh added.