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Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Union minister’s son Ashish Mishra remanded in police custody again
Besides Ashish Mishra, CJM sent three other accused Ankit Das, Shekhar Bharti and Latif to police custody, accepting the prosecution’s request for their police remand in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence
Union minister of state for home Ajay Kumar Mishra Teni’s son Ashish Mishra, arrested for his alleged role in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, was on Friday remanded in police custody for two days.
It was for the second time that he was remanded in police custody by Lakhimpur Kheri’s chief judicial magistrate Chinta Ram.
Besides Ashish Mishra, CJM also sent three other accused Ankit Das, Shekhar Bharti and Latif to police custody, accepting the prosecution’s request for their police remand in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
The two-day police remand for the four, starting from 5pm on Friday, will end at the same time on Sunday.
Special prosecution officer (SPO) SP Yadav said, “Investigators moved an application in the court of chief judicial magistrate Chinta Ram, requesting the police custody remand of Ashish Mishra alias Monu, Ankit Das, Shekhar Bharti and Latif for further interrogation.”
“After hearing the arguments of the prosecution and the defence, the court accepted police custody remand of the four accused from 5pm on October 22 to 5pm on October 24,” Yadav added.
“The lawyer of the accused were allowed by the court to be present during interrogation without causing any hindrance. The court also ordered to avoid any torture of the accused and ordered for their medical examination,” he said.
After his arrest on October 9, Ashish Mishra was first remanded in police custody on October 11 with the remand period starting on October 12 and ending on October 15. After the expiry of his first remand period, he had been sent back to the Lakhimpur jail under judicial custody.
The court had earlier on Thursday remanded four other accused, Sumit Jaiswal, Satya Prakash Tripathi alias Satyam, Nandan Singh Bisht and Shishu Pal, in police custody for three days.
In the FIR lodged at the Tikunia police station in Lakhimpur Kheri district following the October 3 violence there in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed, Ashish Mishra figures as the prime accused besides 10-15 other unidentified, unmade persons.
The violence was triggered after a vehicle that was part of a convoy had alleged ploughed into a crowd of protesting farmers, leaving four people dead.
In the ensuing violence, two BJP workers, an SUV driver and a freelance journalist were killed.
After the registration of the first FIR, a second counter-FIR was lodged at the same police station on the complaint by BJP ward member Sumit Jaiswal, who too was arrested subsequently.
The UP government has set up an SIT, headed by DIG Upendra Kumar Agarwal, to probe into the case. A total of ten people have been arrested in the case so far.
(WITH PTI INPUTS)
