On SC prod, minister’s son called by UP police
NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW: Hours after the Supreme Court termed the Lakhimpur Kheri incident “very unfortunate” and gave the Uttar Pradesh government 24 hours to report back whether it has arrested all the accused booked for the violence that killed eight people, the UP Police arrested two people on Thursday.
However, Ashish Mishra, son of Union minister of state for home affairs Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’, was neither detained nor arrested. Ashish Mishra, who was named in the murder FIR registered on Monday and who has been interviewed by some TV channels, has repeatedly denied the charges.
UP Police summoned him for questioning at 10am on Friday, and pasted a notice outside Ajay Mishra’s house in Lakhimpur. The notice said Ashish Mishra must appear in person.
“If Ashish Mishra does not abide by the summons, legal procedure will be adopted,” said Lucknow inspector general Lakshmi Singh.
The two arrested individuals were identified as Luvkush Rana and Ashish Pandey, both believed to be associates of Ashish Mishra, said additional director general, law and order, Prashant Kumar.
He said the police identified six people as accused — three of them dead in the violence, the two accused, and Ashish Mishra. Another accused was
unidentified.
Kumar added that the forensic team had located two bullet cartridges from the spot and was examining one of the vehicles involved. Farmers allege that Ashish Mishra fired shots during the violence, a charge denied by him.
“This is a very unfortunate incident. You tell us how many accused are there and whether they have been arrested or not. You give us a status report tomorrow,” a bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana, told senior advocate Garima Parshad, who appeared for the state government in the case registered by the top court