Two days before PWD engineer Manoj Kumar Gupta was murdered in his house in Auraiya, BSP legislator Shekhar Tiwari, district BSP president Yogendra Dohre, Vinay Tiwari and some others had visited his residence and threatened him of dire consequences if he refused to follow their dictates.

Gupta’s wife Shashi — a key witness in the case — made this disclosure through a statement in the court of Special Judge Virendra Kumar on Thursday.

The PWD engineer was allegedly murdered by Tiwari and others on December 23 last year. Shashi told the court that the accused had visited their residence in the Gail Vihar Colony on December 21. According to Shashi, Gupta had confided to her what the MLA and others told him. He had also told her that he was “under pressure” because they could go to “any extent”.

The next day — December 22 — Gupta had told everything to his mother Kiran Bala over the telephone. In fact, Gupta told her that he apprehended a murderous attack on him from Tiwari and his goons.

“He told his mother that he was thinking of getting himself transferred, rather than succumbing to pressure,” Shashi told the court.

Special prosecution counsel I B Singh said that according to Shashi, on the night of the murder, there was a power failure in the Gail Vihar Colony, which was unusual as the colony was known for uninterrupted power supply. Shashi told the court that she suspected the blackout to be the handiwork of the accused.

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