Lucknow, Feb 20 (IANS) An engineer of the Uttar Pradesh irrigation department Saturday sent his resignation letter to Chief Minister Mayawati following alleged extortion bids by a legislator of the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

Seeking to draw the chief minister's attention to 'repeated demands for money' by Bhimrao Ambedkar, who represents Lakhna assembly constituency in Etawah district, executive engineer Shiv Das said Ambedkar warned him that he would meet the fate of Manoj Kumar Gupta if he did not comply.

Gupta, an executive engineer of the public works department, was allegedly beaten to to death by BSP legislator Shekhar Tiwari in the neighbouring Auraiya district in 2008.

'That is why I have chosen to resign from service rather than meet a gory end,' Das wrote in the letter, copies of which were sent to the state irrigation minister and irrigation secretary.

Das also spoke out against the legislator before local journalists in Etawah Saturday evening.

While the chief minister was in New Delhi, bureaucrats declined to comment on the issue.