Days after an Uttar Pradesh engineer was allegedly beaten to death by a ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator, the victim's predecessor in the public works department (PWD) has accused the same politician of regularly extorting money for party funds.
C.D. Rai, an executive engineer
with the PWD, told reporters in Mathura where he is now posted: "MLA Shekhar Tiwari and his supporters often used to pressurise engineers for money for party funds."
Tiwari and his supporters have been accused of lynching PWD engineer M.K. Gupta in Auraiya district Wednesday. The MLA fled the scene and was arrested from Kanpur Rural district.
The legislator also used to demand that certain PWD contracts should be given to builders or contractors close to him, alleged Rai, adding: "If engineers voiced objections, they were threatened with dire consequences".
Mathura is over 250 km from Lucknow.
Asked to name the political parties whose MLAs indulge in extortion, Rai said: "Most of the time, legislators of the ruling party indulge in extortion".
Rai also alleged that if engineers did not comply with the extortion demands or raised objections, they were transferred.