Lakhimpur Killings: Tension, Anger Over Delay in Arrest of BJP Minister’s Son; 2 Aides Held

Lucknow:Tension and anger continue to simmer due to the delay in arrests despite Union Minister of State for Home Affairs and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ajay Kumar Mishra's son Ashish Mishra alias Monu being booked for murder after the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

Meanwhile, taking suo motu notice, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to submit a status report by Friday on the persons named in the FIR and the arrests.

Also Read:Lakhimpur Kheri Violence: Drowned in Grief, Families of 4 Killed Farmers Blame Minister’s Son for Mayhem.

"Nothing can be said without the veracity and technical investigation of the viral videos. The investigation is underway and it will certainly take some time," said Superintendent of Police Arun Kumar Singh, appealing to the people to avoid sharing any video on social media without knowing the truth.

When questioned why no arrests had been made yet in the case despite the identity of the accused being revealed, Singh said, "The priority is to ensure law and order first. The entire department is occupied with maintaininglaw and order and make ensure tountoward incidents are reported. However, we are verifyingall videos to make sure they are not doctored, recording statements of police officials on duty there. Also, interrogation is going on those suspected taken into custody. Therefore, it is taking time to collect evidence. The arrest will be made after the sufficientevidence," the SP toldNewsClick.

Two First Information Reports (FIR) have been lodged on Sunday's killing at Tikonia police station. In the one filed by a member of the minister’s convoy, no one has been named andan FIR under Section 302 of IPC (murder) has been registered against Ajay Mishra's son, Ashish, along with 15-20 unidentified people in the incident in the Tikonia police station.

Asserting that law will take its own course and the guilty will be caught, Singh said: "A team has been formed. When we have evidence, we will surely arrest the accused. Both parties are levelling allegations against each other, so we have to corroborate all the proof that we have and then come to any conclusion."

Meanwhile, Lucknow Range IG Lakshmi Singh claimed no firearm injury or incident of firing had been confirmed in Sunday's Lakhimpur Kheri incident. Adding that police “will have to proceed with other evidence that has been given to us” while conducting their investigation.

However, questions have been raised over the independent functioning and credibility of Uttar Pradesh police by the family members of the deceased as well as civil society. They have been demanding arrest of the Minister's son.

“It has been four days but the state government has failed to arrest Ashish Mishra, who is the main accused in the killing of innocent farmers. What kind of evidence are they gathering since the past four days?” asked Rajdeep Singh, son of Gurvinder Singh, a 45-year-old farmer, who was among those killed in Sunday’s violence.

Demanding arrest of the minister's son and other accused, family members of Daljeet Singh appealed to the media not to divert attention from arresting the culprits to compensation.

"Why don't people and media understand that we are not hungry for money and jobs, rather we want to see the accused being sent behind bars. Punishment must set a benchmark so that no can be crushed under the wheels of powerful people," Daljeet's uncle said.

According to a video doing the rounds, an SUV, allegedly driven by the minister’s son, mowed down farmers from behind, as they were walking on the road after their protest.

Among the farmers killed in Sunday’s incident, two each were from Lakhimpur Kheri and Bahraich.

'AUTOPSY REPORT NOT REFLECT BULLET INJURY'

The family of Gurvinder Singh (22) of Matera tehsil in Bahraich district has refused to cremate him till a second autopsy

is done and alleged that the first one tried to hide a bullet injury that they claimed caused his death.

Read Also:Lakhimpur Violence: Family of One Farmer Who was Killed Demands Second Autopsy; 3 Others Cremated

Gurvinder’s father Sukhvinder Singh toldNewsclickthat the second autopsy report also did not reflect any bullet injury.

"On our demand, the second autopsy was conducted and we are satisfied with the report. However, our key demands to arrest Mishra are not fulfilled yet despite enough evidence," a distraught Singh toldNewsclick, adding that media was continuously highlighting the Rs 40 lakh compensation given by the government "but money cannot compensate the loss nor buy happiness. Everyone has to die one day but the untimely and unexpected demise of my son hurts. I hope the government fulfills the other promise of providing a government job to a family member, as it promised”.

The Uttar Pradesh government has constituted a one-member commission of retired High Court judge Pradeep Kumar Srivastava to probe the violence during a farmers'' protest rally that claimed eight lives on Sunday. Kumar Srivastava, a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court, will investigate the matter and submit a report in two months.

"A notification for the constitution of the Commission has been issued. The commission has been given two months’ time to probe the matter. The Commission shall complete the inquiry within a period of two months from the date of the issue of this notification. Any change in its tenure shall be at the behest of the Government," the notification read.

‘POLITICAL LEADERS ALLOWED, FINALLY’

A dozen Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Chattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and his Punjab counterpart Charanjit Singh Channi met family members of the farmers killed in the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri and promised them all assistance. Rahul Gandhi also met the slain journalist’s family.

They arrived in Lakhimpur after the Uttar Pradesh government allowed them to visit the violence-hit district.

The incident has triggered a major political storm with Opposition parties accusing the Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh of shielding the culprits.

Earlier on Monday,Priyanka Gandhi was arrested while on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri to visit the families of farmers killed in Sunday's violence. She had alleged she was being illegally held at a police compound in Sitapur (around 50 km from Lakhimpur Kheri).

Read Also:Lakhimpur Violence: Priyanka Says Detained Beyond 24 hours Without FIR

The Congress leader said the families of the victims she had met told her that they were not interested in the compensation announced by the government, but "want justice".

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi also hit out at the UP government after he was not allowed to exit the Chaudhari Charan Singh airport, where a group of CRPF personnel was seen preventing his movement out of the airport, despite permission being granted to visit Lakhimpur Kheri. Gandhi, who reached UP on Wednesday, called the state government's actions a "systematic attack on farmers" and said he would defy the order.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS

TheSupreme Court, on Thursday, asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file a status report regarding the accused in the Lakhimpur violence case and whether any action had been taken against them. “We need to know who are the accused against whom you have registered FIR and whether you have arrested them or not,” the court said.

Lakhimpur police officials said that two persons identified as Luvkush Rana and Ashish Pandey have been arrested in connection with the Sunday violence. The duo is close associates of the Union home minister Ajai Mishra Teni's son Ashish Mishra, the official claimed.

"The minister's son is still untraceable, however, further raids are on in search of other accused identified so far," the official added.

Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in Lakhimpur Kheri when a group agitating against the Centre's three new farm laws was holding a demonstration against the visit of UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on October 3.

Two BJP workers and a driver were beaten to death allegedly by the angry protesters, while a local journalist was also killed in the violence.