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Ashish Mishra in judicial custody, cops scan CCTV in Lakhimpur violence probe
The main accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri case, Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s son Ashish Mishra, was arrested on Saturday after which a local court remanded him in 14 days’ judicial custody. The UP police will produce him before the court again on Monday and seek his police remand
The Uttar Pradesh Police team investigating the October 3 violence at Lakhimpur Kheri visited a fuel pump on Sunday on the Tikunia-Banbirpur Road, close to the violence site, to see if CCTV cameras installed there captured the incident, said officers aware of the development.
The main accused in the case, Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s son Ashish Mishra, was arrested on Saturday after which a local court remanded him in 14 days’ judicial custody. But the police will produce him before the court again on Monday and seek his police remand.
A police officer privy to the investigation said the nine-member team headed by deputy inspector general (DIG) Upendra Agarwal tried to establish the sequence of events based on the CCTV feed.
He said the probe team also visited Banbirpur, the village of the minister, and recorded the statements of several people there.
Additional director general (law and order) of police Prashant Kumar said on Sunday that Lakhimpur police have applied for the custody remand of Mishra to interrogate him further about the incident and that he was arrested after he could not give satisfactory answers during interrogation.
Another police officer said on condition of anonymity that Mishra submitted multiple videos about his presence in the village but could not produce an alibi for 64 minutes—2.36pm to 3.40pm on October 3. He said Mishra’s cellphone was seized and a video recording of the entire process was done by the probe team.
Meanwhile, Lakhimpur Kheri district jail superintendent P P Singh said Mishra was kept in quarantine barrack number 21 designated for new jail inmates. He was being provided with all facilities permissible to every prisoner.
Earlier on Thursday, ADG Kumar had said the police identified six people as accused—three of them died in the violence, two others named Luv Kush and Ashish Pandey who was arrested on Thursday, and Ashish Mishra. Another accused remains to be identified.
But people familiar with the case said the names of two more people have surfaced — former Union minister Akhilesh Das’ nephew Ankit Das and one Sumit Jaiswal. They were alleged with Mishra in his SUV at the time of the incident. Police are looking for them.
