Lakhimpur Kheri: Punjab CM to meet Amit Shah, internet services restored | 10 points

As many as eight people died during the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri district on Sunday, said Uttar Pradesh Police. Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of several farmer unions, had alleged four farmers were among those who lost their lives in the incident.

Life returned to normal in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri, where eight people were killed in violence just two days ago. Traffic movement was regular on roads and shops opened their shutters, news agency PTI reported. However, security personnel were seen standing along the road to Tikonia village, where the violence took place on Sunday, PTI further reported.

Though life is normal in Lakhimpur Kheri, there is heavy police presence in the area. (Deepak Gupta/HT Photo)

The district administration, meanwhile, restored the internet services in Lakhimpur Kheri. These services were suspended since October 3.

Congress and other opposition parties have been attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in the state, after many of their leaders were stopped from visiting the site of the violence and meet locals. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra along with other party leaders, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and other politicians have been stopped by the state government from visiting Lakhimpur Kheri.

The latest to join the list is Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, who was stopped at Lucknow airport. Baghel claimed his was going to Sitapur to meet Priyanka Gandhi but the police told him not to leave the airport. He sat on a dharna inside the airport.

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC is still in force in Lakhimpur and internet services restricted.

Here are the top developments in the Lakhmipur Kheri case:

• A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into Sunday's Lakhimpuri Kheri violence. The petition has been filed by two lawyers. The petitioners have sought FIR against the ministers involved in the incident.

• Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday where he will meet Union home minister Amit Shah later in the evening. Before leaving for Delhi, Channi told reporters at Chandigarh airport that he will discuss the Lakhimpur Kheri incident with Shah.

• Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary pushed for President's rule in Uttar Pradesh saying that the entire state machinery under the Yogi Adityanath government is trying to suppress the truth of what happened in Lakhimpur Kheri and clamping down on the opposition.

• Meanwhile, a case has been registered against Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and 10 others in Sitapur, where she has been kept under detention at a guest house. Gandhi, Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, party leader Deependra Hooda and others have been booked under sections 151, 107, 116 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which relate to preventive detention due to apprehension of breach of peace.

• Bhupesh Baghel, who is sitting on a dharna inside Lucknow airport, held a virtual press conference where he insisted on meeting "his leader" Priyanka Gandhi and slammed the UP government for stopping him from going outside the airport. Baghel recalled how a firing incident happened in Chhattisgarh but his government never stopped anyone from visiting the area.

• The Shiv Sena, who was once with the BJP, called for joint action by political parties against the "oppression" of UP government. Sena leader Sanjay Raut met Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday in this regard.

• Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Mohsin Raza on Tuesday said that the Opposition parties want to flare up riots in Lakhimpur Kheri in an attempt to create a negative environment. Raza also lauded Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the manner he tackled the issue and also the law and order situation in the area.

• In the town of Lakhmipur Kheri, from where the epicentre of violence Tikonia is just 70 kilometre away, regular activities were witnessed near the railway station and other market places where vendors and shops were operating as usual, a PTI report said. Children in uniform headed for schools and coaching institutes, and vehicles, including public transport, were plying normally, it added.

• Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni is in the eye of the storm over Sunday's violence. The farmers have claimed that four from their community were killed when a car, which they claimed was part of the convoy of minister's son Ashish, ran over them. A case has been registered against both the minister and the son based on a complaint from the protesters.

• Teni rubbished all the allegations and asserted that he has evidence to prove that he and his son are innocent. "Investigators can check our call detail record, mobile location etc. It will become crystal clear that my son was not at the spot when the incident happened," he told reporters today. He had earlier said that the protesters started pelting stones at the convoy due to which the driver lost control, and the incident happened.