Lakhimpur violence: UP police arrests 'absconding' Ankit Das' driver; 4th arrest in case

Cracking down on the Lakhimpur massacre, UP police has made its fourth arrest in the case on Tuesday - Ankit Das's driver. UP police arrested Das' driver - Shekhar Bharti - as he was driving the black Fortuner SUV which was the other car aprt from Ashish Mishra's jeep on the site on October 3. UP police have arrested Luv Kush, Ashish Pandey and Union MoS Ajay Mishra's son - Ashish Mishra for allegedly mowing down four farmers in Lakhimpur. Eight were killed in Lakhimpur on last Sunday in clashes between farmers and BJP workers.

Fourth arrest in Lakhimpur case

Police are still hunting Ankit Das - nephew of later Rajya Sabha MP Akhilesh Das and Ashish Mishra's close aide. Ankit Das, Sumit Jaiswal and Shekhar Bharti were allegedly in the other black Fortuner SUV on October 3 which mowed down four farmers. In a video now viral on Twitter, a man is heard claiming that he was in the vehicle with four other people, including Ankit Das and that farmers were mowed down by it. Later, enraged protesters damaged and set ablaze the car.

On Saturday, Ashish Mishra was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh SIT  after 10 hours of questioning. DIG Upendra Agarwal, who is heading the 9-member SIT had accused him of 'not cooperating' during his interrogation. The cops had quizzed Ashish Mishra on his location when the violence broke out and whether he had any evidence to prove that he was not at the spot when his vehicle mowed down farmers. 

Police claimed that Ashish Had not been able to verify his location at 3 PM when the incident took place. Notably, Ashish Mishra had appeared before the Special Investigation Team, a day after he skipped their summons. Mishra along with 15-20 unidentified accused have been booked under sections 120B, 147, 148, 149, 279, 302, 304A, and 338 of the IPC.

What happened in Lakhimpur-Kheri?

On October 3, farmers were protesting against the Farm Laws at Lakhimpur Kheri outside an event venue where Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya was scheduled to attend. As farmers displayed black flags along the path from the helipad to the venue, Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) claimed that one of the farmers was shot dead by Ashish Misra - son of Union MoS Ajay Misra Teni and three farmers were killed after his car ran over them and turned turtle. In retaliation, farmers resorted to stone-pelting at the car which had overturned, killing 4 BJP workers - including Misra's driver. Clashes ensued after the incident resulting in many injuries and section 144 has been imposed throughout the district.

Most politicians like  Akhilesh Yadav, Deepender Hooda, Chandrashekhar Azad, Sanjay Singh, who had attempted to visit Lakhimpur were detained and allowed to enter the district only later. With Union MoS Ajay Misra and his son - Ashish Misra refuting the farmers' claims, UP govt announced it will give Rs 45 lakhs to the 4 farmers' families and  Rs 10 lakhs will be given to those injured. The deceaseds' kin will also get a govt job and probe headed by a retired High Court judge will be done. A CJI-led SC bench has taken suo-moto cognizance of the matter. While both  Union MoS Ajay Mishra and his son Ashish have been booked, Ashish has been sent three-day police remand.