Ashish Mishra named in FIR; accused of hatching 'pre-planned conspiracy' with father

Union Minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra has been named in the FIR into the Lakhimpur Kheri violence that led to the death of 8 persons including 4 farmers. As per the complainant Jagjit Singh who is a resident of Bahraich, farmers and labourers were peacefully protesting against Ajay Mishra and Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya at the playground of the Maharaja Agrasen Inter College on October 3 by showing black flags. The FIR mentioned that three vehicles ferrying Ashish Mishra and 15-20 unknown persons drove towards the event venue in Banbirpur village at high speed at around 3 pm.

It claimed that he was sitting on the left seat of his Mahindra Thar vehicle, fired at protesters and proceeded ahead by mowing down farmers. Alleging that two farmers succumbed to bullet injuries, the complainant added that Ashish Mishra's three cars turned turtle due to high speed which left many passersby injured. After this, he reportedly opened fire again and fled the spot. Lamenting that no action was taken against the Union MoS Home for allegedly threatening farmers, the FIR claimed that this was a "pre-planned conspiracy" by Ajay Mishra and his son. 

Ashish Mishra and 15-20 unknown accused persons have been booked under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 147 (rioting), 148 (Rioting armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 279 (rash driving), 302 (murder), 304A (death by negligence) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the IPC. Meanwhile, the Yogi Adityanath-led government constituted a Special Investigation Team to probe the Lakhimpur violence. Reportedly, the SIT will be headed by Additional SP Arun Kumar. 

Here is the FIR copy: 

Mishra father-son duo profess innocence

On Tuesday, a 29-second video came to the fore which showed a car travelling at high speed mowing down farmers who are protesting peacefully. Without denying the authenticity of the video, the Union Minister said, "Only you know how the car mowed down (the farmers) as I was not present there. My son was also not there. So, we don't have any information about it. But the information and videos in the public domain show that the driver of the car was dragged out and killed there itself".

Speaking exclusively to Republic TV earlier, Ashish Mishra claimed that he was present in the annual 'Dangal' event organised in Banbirpur when the incident took place. Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government and farmers reached an agreement whereby the former agreed to provide a compensation of Rs.45 lakh and a government job to the families of the deceased farmers and Rs.10 lakh to the injured. Furthermore, DG (Law & Order) Prashant Kumar announced that a retired High Court judge will probe the violence.