Expected death sentence for killers

The mother of slain Public Works Department (PWD) engineer Manoj Gupta Friday hailed a Lucknow court’s decision awarding life imprisonment to a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator and nine others, but said that she expected capital punishment for all those involved in her son’s murder.
‘I am very thankful to the judge. But considering the brutality of the murder of my innocent son I expected those involved would get the death sentence,’ Kiran Bala told reporters here.
Lakhimpur Kheri is the home district of Gupta, where his last rites were performed.
‘I believe life imprisonment is not sufficient for the killers…The manner in which my son was tortured to death warranted capital punishment,’ said Bala.
She avoided comment when asked whether her family would approach a higher court, pleading for the death penalty for the legislator and others involved in the murder.
A special trial court in Lucknow Friday awarded life term to BSP legislator Shekhar Tiwari and nine others, including three policemen, for Gupta’s murder in Auraiya town in 2008.
The special court of judge Virendra Kumar also awarded two-and-a-half year’s imprisonment to the legislator’s wife, Vibha Tiwari, for destroying evidence.
Gupta was lynched on the night of Dec 24, 2008 for resisting extortion by Tiwari, who was allegedly collecting money for Chief Minister Mayawati’s birthday celebrations.
The incident took place in Auraiya town, about 250 km from here.
The case was transferred to a special court in Lucknow following a request by the victim’s family members who alleged that Tiwari was trying to use his influence on the Auraiya court.