Amid demands from farm leaders for the arrest of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra’s son, Ashish, in connection with Sunday’s Lakhimpur Kheri incident, an FIR has been registered at Tikonia police station against the businessman and 13 others on various charges including murder and rioting.
A separate FIR was filed at the same station by one Sumit Jaiswal against unidentified persons on charges of rioting, causing death by negligence and murder, sources said.
Tikonia station SHO, Balendu Gautam, confirmed that two FIRs have been lodged in the matter and one of was based on a complaint by farmers, , reports The Indian Express.
On Sunday, four farmers were among eight persons killed in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri after a convoy of three SUVs, including one owned by Mishra, hit a group of farm protesters leading to a clash. The farm leaders claimed Ashish was driving one of the SUVs.
However, Mishra said his son, who is a businessman, was not at the spot when the incident occurred. The Union MoS told The Indian Express that the four others killed were “BJP workers and a car driver” who died after being “attacked by assailants armed with swords and sticks who were among the farmers”.
While UP Police remained tightlipped, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) identified the four farmers killed as Lovepreet Singh (20), Daljeet Singh (35), Nachattar Singh (60) and Gurvinder Singh (19). They said 12-15 others were injured. An official at the Lakhimpur Kheri district hospital said farm leader Tejinder Singh suffered serious injuries.
Opposition parties slammed the BJP state government for the “inhuman” and “cruel” incident and called for the resignation of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Describing the incident as “unfortunate”, Adityanath said “strict action will be taken against those found guilty” but also said that his government “would go deep into the matter and expose the people behind today’s incident”. He also appealed to residents in the area to maintain peace.
