A man was found hanging on Monday in a government flat allotted to BJP legislator Yogesh Shukla in Lucknow, with the MLA telling reporters the deceased was his employee and handled his social media accounts.

Police said that Shreshth Tiwari, 24, had lived in the flat for the past year and a half, and had committed suicide for reasons yet unascertained.

A source close to Shreshth told reporters on the condition of anonymity that the young man felt he was under too much work pressure.

“He had to be always on the lookout for tweets in support of the state government, and make videos to promote the BJP and malign others. But I don’t know why took this step,” the source said.

Inspector Pramod Kumar Pandey from Hazratganj police station said: “Shreshth worked for the MLA’s media cell. A woman he knew told the police that Shreshth had made a video call to her and said he would commit suicide.

“The woman rushed to the flat and knocked on the door. Getting no response, she called the police, who broke the door and found him hanging from the ceiling. No suicide note was found. An investigation is on.”

Saurabh, younger brother of Shreshth, who has arrived in Lucknow from his ancestral home in Barabanki, said: “I heard the police say he had a love affair but we don’t believe this. He was very open with us but never spoke about any relationship.”

In May 2021, Parth Srivastava, 28, who handled chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s social media accounts, was found hanging from the ceiling of his own home in Lucknow. The police said it was a suicide.

Parth had been hired for the job from a private company. He had posted a tweet a few minutes before ending his life, tagging several politicians and bureaucrats, in which he accused two senior colleagues of harassing him.

“My suicide is a murder,” Parth had said in a purported suicide note he left behind at the site.

The police booked the two senior colleagues Parth had named but didn’t arrest them.