Lucknow: The killing of farmers at Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri was a “planned conspiracy”, a Special Investigation Team has said, in the case in which Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s jailed son Ashish Mishra is the main accused. The charges against Ashish Mishra should be modified, cops investigating the case have written to a judge. Ashish Mishra and others are already facing murder and conspiracy charges.
The Special Investigation Team wants “attempt to murder” and other charges added. As the ruling BJP prepares for polls in Uttar Pradesh, the new development signals huge trouble for Ajay Mishra, the Union Minister of State for Home, who has remained in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government despite calls for his sacking. The killings at Lakhimpur Kheri caused massive anger among farmers, one of the most important voting blocs in the elections ahead. 8 people were killed on October 3rd at Lakhimpur Kheri during a farmers’ protest. After 4 farmers were run over, allegedly by an SUV driven by Ashish Mishra, violence broke out in which 4 more, including a journalist, were killed.
2 FIRs were filed by the Lakhimpur police. One filed by the family of the dead farmers named Ashish Mishra as the main accused. The other FIR was filed on Sumit Jaiswal, a BJP worker in Lakhimpur, against unnamed farmers accused of instigating the violence afterwards. He was later arrested as a co-accused in the Ashish Mishra FIR. The UP government faced many tough questions as the Supreme Court heard a petition on the case. Last month, the Supreme Court directed the Special Investigation Team to complete the investigation expeditiously.