HC stays trial in Auraiya murder case

The Allahabad High Court stayed till April six the trial in the PWD engineer murder case after Vibha Tiwari, wife of the prime accused - BSP MLA Shekhar Tiwari, sought transfer of the case from Auraiya to another district.

The Allahabad High Court on Monday stayed till April six the trial in the PWD engineer murder case after Vibha Tiwari, wife of the prime accused - BSP MLA Shekhar Tiwari, sought transfer of the case from Auraiya to another district.

HT Image

Justice SNH Zaidi gave the order while asking the state government to file its counter-affidavit on the transfer application of Vibha, also a co-accused in the case.

The petitioner had asked the court to transfer the trial to some other district, alleging that the additional sessions judge of Auraiya was a neighbour of the slain PWD engineer Manoj Gupta and that their wives were “close friends”.

She had also alleged that all the lawyers of Auraiya district have passed a resolution that none of them will fight the case on behalf of the petitioners.

Gupta was beaten to death in December, 2008, allegedly by Tiwari and his aides after he refused to meet their extortion demand. His wife has been accused of destroying evidence in the case.