According to the victim`s cousin Sharad Gupta, the engineer was under pressure to shell out a hefty amount for Mayawati`s birthday celebrations.
`On earlier occasions too, Tiwari visited his house a number of times, demanding money. But my (cousin) brother expressed inability to give the money and his refusal led to this incident,` Sharad Gupta said.
`My cousin had apprised PWD Minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui about Shekhar Tiwari`s oft-repeated demand for money, but nothing concrete was done to restrain him,` added Gupta.
Every year on January 15, the BSP supremo holds a big birthday bash and party leaders at various levels are reportedly directed to make their assigned contributions, a practice that Mayawati has openly admitted in the past.
Image: Angry public damaging the posters of the Mayawati government the death of Public Works Department engineer MK Gupta, allegedly beaten to death, at a Community Health Centre in Auraiya on Wednesday, Dec 24, 2008.
