Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, April 4: The Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team probing the Lakhimpur Kheri case has presented its status report, recommending that the Uttar Pradesh government cancel the bail granted to primary suspect Ashish Mishra twice.
Its report also revealed that evidence proved Ashish Mishra, son of Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni, was present at the scene of the violence that killed eight people and was aware of UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s detour to attend a ceremony on October 3, the day of the event.
Farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, were accused of being ran over by Ashish Mishra while staging a protest against Maurya’s arrival. Farmers had been protesting against the three farm legislation, which the Centre ultimately repealed.
“The head of SIT wrote to the Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, Uttar Pradesh on 10.02.2022 and 14.02.2022 respectively requesting an urgent appeal in the Hon’ble Supreme Court for cancellation of bail of the accused in view of the ongoing investigation and possibility of the threat to the witnesses including 98 witnesses who are provided protection,” said the committee.
Notably, the Uttar Pradesh administration was questioned by the Supreme Court on March 30 for not cancelling the bail of Ashish Mishra, the main offender in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, as recommended by the special investigation team.
The SC bench, comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, had said, “There are two letters sent by the SIT to the Additional chief secretary (home) of the Uttar Pradesh government by the monitoring judge who had written to the state to file appeal in SC to cancel bail of main accused Ashish Mishra.”
Last October, Ashish Mishra was arrested in connection with the violence that occurred in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh. On October 3, 2021, eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri following violence during a farmers’ protest, including four farmers.
He was released from custody after the Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow bench granted him bail. On February 14, Ashish Mishra’s lawyers submitted two Rs 3 lakh bail bonds in response to his bail orders.
