National

“No political conspiracy behind Gupta’s murder”

LUCKNOW: With the ongoing probe into the killing of PWD executive engineer Manoj Kumar Gupta pointing to the alleged involvement of Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Shekhar Tewari in the crime, Director-General of Police Vikram Singh on Saturday denied that the murder was the fallout of a political conspiracy.

Mr. Singh dismissed as baseless the allegation of money being extorted from the engineer by the MLA for Chief Minister Mayawati’s birthday on January 15. The DGP said the MLA wanted some contracts to be given to his accomplices. Unlike his predecessors, who paid between Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 70,000 to the MLA, Gupta refused to give money. In addition, the engineer withheld payment to some of the MLA’s men, who used to give a cut to Mr. Tewari, the DGP said.

The police were treating the engineer’s killing as a criminal case and nothing else. The DGP told journalists here that Gupta’s murder at Auraiya on December 24, 2008 was the result of a criminal conspiracy allegedly hatched by Mr. Tewari, BSP Auraiya district president Yogendra Dohre alias Bhatia and their accomplices.

Ten people, including the MLA and Dohre were named as the main accused in the case. The others are Vijay Tewari alias Tyagi, Manoj Awasthi, Ram Babu alias Puti, station house officer of the Dibiyapur police station Hoshiyar Singh (since dismissed), police gunners Pal Singh and Gajraj Singh (since dismissed) and the MLA’s drivers Devendra and Santosh.

While the six, including Mr. Tewari, were arrested, efforts were on to nab the dismissed SHO and the MLA’s drivers.

According to the DGP, the MLA’s wife, Vibha Tewari, and four others were named as accused involved in the criminal conspiracy. Mr. Singh said the MLA’s wife was charged with destroying evidence during the course of and after the incident, both at Gupta’s GAIL Vihar residence in Dibiyapur and the Gangotri Guest House on the GAIL (the Gas Authority of India Limited) Vihar campus.

Regarding Mr. Hoshiyar Singh’s alleged involvement in the killing, the DGP said it was found that he was in regular contact with the MLA and his accomplices when Gupta was being administered electric shocks and battered to death, yet took no action. Even the GAIL staff had informed the Dibiyapur police of the goings on at GAIL Vihar, the DGP said.

Narrating the sequence of events, the DGP said Mr. Shekhar Tewari and his accomplices assembled at the Gangotri Guest House between 10 and 11 p.m. on December 23, 2008.

Following a drinking session, they left for Gupta’s residence in a white Tavera and black Safari. Along with them, they took the guard Jaiveer Singh and cook Ramesh Chandra Rajput at gun point to identify the engineer’s house.

After breaking into Gupta’s residence, the accused dragged the engineer to the drawing room and hammered him and administered electric shocks, the DGP said. He said the same scene was repeated in the guest house where Gupta was brought from his residence. At 3 a.m. on December 24, they dropped the engineer at the Dibiyapur police station from where the seriously injured Gupta was first taken to the Primary Health Centre in Auraiya and then to the District Hospital at 5.05 a.m., Mr. Singh added. Gupta was pronounced “brought dead” at the hospital.

The DGP said the police would seek a three-day remand for the accused and did not rule out the possibility of a narco test being conducted on the MLA.

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