The Uttar Pradesh police on Wednesday arrested Bahujan Samaj Party legislator Shekhar Tiwari in connection with the killing of a senior Public Works Department engineer.
The police said prima facie the role of the legislator has been found.
The police arrested Tiwari, who has criminal antecedents, in Rania in Akbarpur police station limits of Kanpur Dehat district for his role in the murder of Executive Engineer M K Gupta, who was killed allegedly for refusing to give a huge sum for Chief Minister Mayawati's birthday celebrations next month.
Director General of Police Vikram Singh said in the evening that the MLA was arrested when he was on his way to Auraiya from Kanpur and was travelling in a white Santro.
Singh said that prima facie the role of MLA has been detected in the conspiracy of the murder and he would be taken on police remand for detailed interrogation.
He gave an assurance that action would be taken against the remaining two accused and they would be arrested soon.
The government has already suspended the station in-charge of Dibiyapur police station, Hoshiyar Singh, the DGP said.
As the Mayawati government came under attack over the incident, the DGP said the killing could have been due to professional enmity among PWD staff members.
Earlier reports, quoting a complaint lodged with the police, said BSP MLA Shekhar Tiwari and his two associates -- Manoj Tyagi and another surnamed Bhatia -- entered Gupta's house at Gail Vihar Colony on Tuesday night and started beating him up severely.
It said they locked Shashi in a bathroom and continued beating her husband and later left the seriously injured
engineer at Diviapur police station in the district, about 100 kms from Kanpur. Gupta was declared dead after being taken to a hospital.
Protesting against the incident, PWD engineers across the state have decided to go on a strike, UP Engineers Association general secretary S S Niranjan said.
The engineers have demanded that a compensation of Rs 25 lakh be paid to Gupta's family and his wife be given pension equivalent to the last salary drawn by him. The engineers have also sought an assurance from the government that adequate security would be provided in future to the field staff.
Samajwadi Party state president Shivpal Singh Yadav alleged that Mayawati had set a target of collecting Rs 1000 crore for her MPs, MLAs and ministers.
Terming Auraiya incident as a result of "pressure" on BSP leaders to collect money to meet the target for Mayawati's birthday, Yadav claimed that even police officers were involved in "extorting" money for the event.
"Such incidents will continue if the chief minister herself keeps setting targets for collecting money," he said.
