Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Union minister Ajay Mishra's son arrested by SIT after 11 hours of questioning

Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’, was arrested on Saturday night after over 11 hours of questioning in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence on 3 October which left eight people, including four farmers, dead.

Ashish has been arrested and will be produced in court, SIT chief Upendra Agarwal said.

Ashish Mishra, son of MoS Home Ajay Mishra Teni, has been arrested as he was not cooperating during the interrogation and didn't answer few questions. He will be produced before the court: DIG Upendra Agarwal, Saharanpur pic.twitter.com/nLG3HcmNME

— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) October 9, 2021

This comes a day after the Supreme Court expressed dissatisfaction over the Uttar Pradesh government’s action against the accused in the Lakhimpur incident that had drawn massive outrage.

Ashish appeared before the special investigation team (SIT) in the crime branch office of the police line at around 10.30 am where he was questioned regarding the FIR registered against him and others under murder charges in Sunday killings.

After quizzing him for more than 11 hours, the nine-member SIT headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police Agarwal, arrested him.

Ashish was named in an FIR following allegations that he was in one of the vehicles that rammed into farmers protesting over UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit last Sunday.

Two BJP workers and their driver were then allegedly lynched by angry farmers. Local journalist Raman Kashyap also died in the incident, which has triggered a political storm and put the BJP government on the back foot in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

Opposition and farmer leaders continued to step up pressure on the ruling BJP, demanding the sacking of Ajay Mishra from the Union Council of Ministers.

Farmers to hold ‘rail roko’ on 18 Oct

Earlier on Saturday, farmer leaders demanded the resignation of the union minister and the arrest of his son.

Calling incident a “terror attack” and part of a “pre-planned conspiracy”, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farmer organisations spearheading the stir against the farm laws, said they will take out a “Shaheed Kisan Yatra” from Lakhimpur Kheri if their demands are not met by 11 October.

The SKM also appealed to farmer bodies to organise prayer meetings on 12 October and urged people to light candles outside their homes on that evening.

The Morcha said farmers will burn effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah on Dusshera in protest against the violence.

The SKM also gave a call for a “rail roko” agitation across the country from 10 am to 4 pm on 18 October and a “mahapanchayat” in Lucknow on 26 October.

With inputs from PTI