Lucknow, Dec 25 : Activists of Samajwadi Party (SP) clashed with the police here today while protesting against the killing of an executive engineer allegedly by a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator.

Samajwadi Party activists, led by state party chief Shivpal Yadav clashed with police while marching to Governor''s office.

"A protest march led by Shivpal Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav from their party office was making its way to the Governor'' office. When police tried to stop them, the protestors forcibly broke the barrier set up by the police. The police have restrained themselves so far not to use force against them but now they have staged a sit-in protest; as such the police have now arrested the protestors who were present here," said Akhil Kumar Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police, Lucknow.

Samajwadi Party leader Bhagwati Singh said that they ware marching peacefully to submit a memorandum to the Governor demanding action against the Mayawati government.

"We came here to submit memorandum to the Governor to take action against the corrupt Uttar Pradesh government as their party workers are extorting money from people for the occasion of the Mayawati''s birthday. Such an act is a major source of corruption in the State. The officials, workers and people here are facing difficulties due to this. We now demand that such a Government should be devoid of any powers," he added.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mayawati has rejected CBI probe into the murder of the PWD engineer.

She strongly condemned it to be a mischievous campaign by the Opposition to defame her govt by linking the killing to her birthday celebrations.

"Where is the need for a CBI probe when the state police, on my orders, have arrested all the accused in the case," she asked.

Shekhar Tiwari, BSP legislator, who reportedly has a criminal background, was taken into custody on Wednesday in connection with the murder of the Executive Engineer Manoj Kumar Gupta of the Uttar Pradesh Public Works Department (PWD).

Gupta, was reportedly battered to death, allegedly by the MLA and his two henchmen, for refusing to pay contribution for celebrating the birthday of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP chief Mayawati next month, a charge Bahujan Samaj Party has denied. (ANI)