Lawyers’ body demands withdrawal of FIR

MISHRA WAS BOOKED IN AN EXTORTION CASE FOR ALLEGEDLY DEMANDING ₹3 CR FROM A TRADER

PRAYAGRAJ: The recent first information report (FIR) lodged against slain gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad’s lawyer Vijay Mishra has angered the district lawyers’ association in Prayagraj.

Office-bearers of Zila Adhivakta Sangh said it’d not tolerate the injustice being meted out to Mishra. A delegation of lawyers would be meeting police and judicial officials concerned to demand the withdrawal of the FIR against Mishra, the association announced.

Mishra was recently booked in an extortion case for allegedly demanding Rs 3 crore from a plywood trader, who also claimed that the lawyer had threatened him.

However, in a leaked audio conversation between Mishra and the trader, which was widely circulated on social media, Mishra can be heard asking the latter to give back the Rs 3 crore that he owed to Atiq.

In a note, the association said a fake case was registered against Vijay Mishra with a motive to harass him. It demanded an impartial enquiry and the withdrawal of the case against Vijay Mishra or else threatened to launch an agitation. General secretary of the association Vidyavaridhi Mishra said a committee would soon be constituted that’d meet the district judge, administrative judges at the high court and senior police officials to press for the withdrawal of the FIR.

Mishra first hit the headlines when he accompanied Atiq Ahmad’s escort vehicle while the latter was brought from Sabarmati Jail of Gujarat to Prayagraj. Mishra has represented Atiq and Ashraf in court and was with them when the mafia brothers were gunned down at Motilal Nehru (Colvin) Divisional Hospital on April 15.

Meanwhile, police officials said Vijay Mishra already had seven cases registered against him at different police stations under various sections of the IPC.