Gupta murder case: BSP MLA's wife plea rejected

Voicing 'extreme disquiet' over 'close nexus' between police and 'criminalised politicians and their goons', the Allahabad High Court has rejected petitions of the wife of BSP MLA Shekhar Tiwari and two others seeking a stay on their arrests in connection with the murder of a PWD engineer.

Rejecting the petitions on Tuesday, a division bench comprising Justice Amar Saran and Justice RN Misra observed that "at this stage the court cannot reach an inference that there is no prima facie material against the accused so as to justify quashing the FIR or the investigation or to stay the arrests of the petitioners".

The court, however, directed that 'investigation and trial in this case be concluded within six months'.

PWD engineer Manoj Kumar Gupta was beaten to death allegedly by the MLA and his supporters who had dragged him out of his house in the early hours of December 24, 2008.

The body was brought to the Dibiyapur police station by the alleged assailants. The court also remarked "we must record our extreme disquiet at a feature which has again been revealed in the case, viz, the close nexus of police officials with criminalised politicians and their goons".