Explained: What lead to Ashish Mishra's arrest in Lakhimpur Kheri violence case

Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra, who was finally arrested on Saturday night on murder charges in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, has been remanded to 14-day judicial custody. A magistrate will decide Monday, whether Ashish should be transferred to Uttar Pradesh Police’s custody. “He will be in judicial custody for the time being. He was produced before the judicial magistrate and the police had demanded three-day custody, to which we objected. The matter will be heard on October 11 and it will be decided whether Mishra will be sent to police custody,” Ashish Mishra’s lawyer Awadesh Singh told reporters on Saturday, according to news agency PTI. His arrest came five days after he was named in an FIR detailing a murder charge among others and seven days after his speeding car brutally mowed down at least four farmers protesting against a statement made by his father. The charges against him usually merit an immediate arrest and questions have been raised whether he was afforded VIP treatment because of his father. He had also skipped summons a day ago. What lead to Ashish Mishra’s arrest His arrest finally came a day after the Supreme Court expressed dissatisfaction over the state government’s action in the case. The police reportedly questioned him for 11 hours to try and cornered him on the following four points:

• His claim that he was at the Banbirpur village wrestling event at the time of the incident
• Another contrasting claim by some of his supporters that he was at a sugar mill in the vicinity
• Why was his vehicle at the crime scene when police had diverted the movement of BJP leaders to another route
• Whether he or anyone in his team/security detail own a point .315 bore gun since empty cartridges were recovered from his vehicle

Ashish was arrested after his replies on the above four counts failed to hold up to basic scrutiny or provide him a watertight alibi in the case. DIG Upendra Agarwal, who is heading the special investigation team (SIT) of Uttar Pradesh Police probing the case, told reporters that Ashish Mishra was not cooperating during the interrogation. “We are taking him in custody on grounds of non-cooperation and evasive replies. He will be produced in court and sustained custodial interrogation will follow,” he said. With reference to the first point, while Ashish had been maintaining that he was at a wrestling event around four to five kilometres from the scene of the violence, multiple witnesses and some video evidence placed him at the scene of the crime while statements of police personnel posted at the said wrestling event showed that the minister’s son was missing between 2 and 4 pm. Both Ashish and his father had claimed otherwise. “In the programme, there were thousands of people including police and administration. My son was there since 11 am and continued to stay there till the conclusion of the programme. So there is no chance of my son being present at the spot,” MoS Ajay Mishra was quoted as saying by ANI. On the second point, an  NDTV report cited sources to claim that when Ashish was shown evidence that his phone’s mobile tower location at the time of crime indicated that he was in the vicinity of the crime scene, he changed his claims about his whereabouts. He told the police that he was in his rice mill at the time which is closer to the crime scene under the same tower, but contrasting claims regarding his alibi did little to help his case. Mishra also could not provide a satisfactory answer to justify why his vehicle was at the crime scene when the police had clearly re-routed the BJP leaders’ convoy. A farmer, who was undergoing treatment after the injuries he sustained after coming under the BJP leader’s vehicle, told News18, “We were told at 3 pm that their route has changed. We started going back peacefully. Suddenly, speeding cars hit us from behind. The car was at over 100 km/hour speed. They ran us over on purpose. Ajay Mishra’s son and his men were in the car. Then I lost consciousness.” Though the Union Minister’s son admitted that the SUV that ran over farmers belongs to him, he maintained that he was not in it. Aged around 35, Ashish Mishra looks after the political activities of his father in his Kheri Parliamentary constituency. While his son was facing questioning by the SIT, Ajay Mishra was in his MP’s office in Lakhimpur city with lawyers and later came out to calm his supporters, who had assembled in large number outside the house and were shouting slogans in favour of him and his son, The minister told them that Ashish was innocent and would come out clean. After two men were arrested on Thursday in the case, police had put up a notice outside Ashish’s house asking him to appear before it. With inputs from PTI Also Read:  Head-on | Speak up, India: Truth to power, even if it hurts _**At Lakhimpur Kheri, charred vehicles and shattered minds serve as grim reminder of deadly violence**_