Shekhar Tiwari is an Indian politician from the Bahujan Samaj Party, currently in life imprisonment for murder. He was elected as chairman of the Dibiyapur municipal Panchayat in Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh in 1997. He was elected to the UP Vidhan Sabha as a BSP candidate in May 2007.[1] Soon after, his wife Vibha was elected as chairman of the Dibiyapur panchayat.[2]
According to police reports, Tiwari was being investigated in 14 criminal cases relating to government contracts and extortion, but after he was elected as MLA, 10 cases were closed for want of evidence.[2]
He is a graduate from the University of Allahabad, and had earlier been a member of the Indian National Congress. He joined the BSP in 2007 during Mayawati's attempt to forge a tie with the Brahmin community.[2]
Manoj Gupta murder
editOn 24 December 2008, five days before the annual birthday bash for party leader Mayawati, Tiwari forcibly entered the house of Public Works Department engineer Manoj K Gupta in Dibiyapur. Along with a gang that included three policemen, Tiwari mercilessly beat up Gupta, fracturing his skull and possibly giving him electric shocks.[3] Tiwari then brought the fatally wounded Gupta to the police station, and Gupta died two hours later at the district hospital.[4]
Media reports repeatedly insisted that the lynching[3] had occurred because Gupta had refused to pay a large sum (possibly Rs 5 to 50 lakhs) towards Mayawati's birthday party. Tiwari and Mayawati initially denied all such claims,[5] but the then in-charge of the Dibiyapur police station, inspector Hoshiyar Singh, gave an interview on TV stating that the group had gone primarily to extract funds. .[6] BSP Auraiya district president Yogendra Dohre was also implicated in the murder.
Over the next year, there were reports of laxity in the investigations,[3][7] but the opposition parties and media kept up the pressure. Eventually, the Supreme Court of India intervened owing to tardy progress in the case. [8] Eventually, Tiwari was sentenced to life imprisonment[9] along with several others.
Later on High court acquitted Hoshiar Singh.
References
edit- ^ Bhatt, Virendra Nath (9 May 2011). "Maya red-faced over Tiwari's conviction". The Indian Express. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
- ^ a b c "3 sitting MLAs convicted of murder have BSP link". The Times of India. 7 May 2011. Archived from the original on 14 July 2013.
- ^ a b c "Will Gupta murder end Maya's party politics?". The Times Of India. 26 December 2008. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
- ^ "PWD engineer murder: Policeman arrested | States News". 25 July 2009.
- ^ "Mayawati has nothing to do with murder: Shekhar Tiwari". News Oneindia. 25 December 2008.
- ^ "Suspended policeman blames engineer's murder on 'birthday funds'". IANS. 3 January 2009.
- ^ "Engineer's murder: Mayawati rejects CBI probe - Express India". Archived from the original on 25 January 2010. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
- ^ "SC asks court to expedite trial in engineer's murder case". PTI. 14 March 2011. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013.
- ^ "BSP MLA, Shekhar Tiwari gets life imprisonment in PWD engineer murder case". The Times Of India. 7 May 2011. Archived from the original on 23 August 2014.