Lucknow, May 6: BSP MLA Shekhar Tiwari and nine others were today sentenced to life imprisonment by a sessions court here for murdering PWD engineer Manoj Kumar Gupta after he refused to pay donations for Chief Minister Mayawati's birthday celebrations in 2008.
Special Additional District Judge Virendra Kumar also sentenced the MLA's wife, Vibha Tiwari, to two-and-a-half years imprisonment on charges of destroying evidences.
The court imposed a fine of Rs 68,000 each on all the 10 convicts besides slapping a fine of Rs 4500 on Vibha. Tiwari, along with his associates, had killed Gupta in Auraiya, over 200 kms from here, after he refused to pay donations for the Chief Minister's birthday celebrations in December 2008.
An FIR in this regard was registered by the slain engineer's wife Shashi Gutpa at Dibiyapur police station in Auraiya.
Besides, MLA Tiwari, Vinay Tiwari, Rambabu alias Putti, Yogendra Dohre alias Bhatia, Manoj Awasthi, Devendra Rajput, Santosh Tiwari, Gajraj Singh, Pal Singh and former SHO Dibiyapur Hoshiyar Singh were awarded life imprisonment in the case.
In Lakhimpur, the mother of slain PWD engineer Manoj Gupta welcomed the court decision, but said the killers deserved “capital punishment”.
“Justice has been done...We are thankful that the court has awarded life imprisonment to the accused. But we feel they deserved capital punishment,” Kiran Bala said. PTI
