Lakhimpur Kheri a ‘planned conspiracy’, says SIT; Court orders adding of murder charges against the accused
The Special Investigation Team of the UP police probing the Lakhimpur Kheri violence incident of October 3, which killed eight people, has revealed that the violence was a planned conspiracy with an intention to kill. The Court has ordered addition of several IPC sections against the 13 accused, including attempt to murder. Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra is one of the accused, at present lodged in jail.
A viral video showed SUV running over people in Lakhimpur Kheri.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Uttar Pradesh Police probing the Lakhimpur Kheri violence that erupted on October 3 and claimed the lives of eight people including four farmers and a local journalist, has said that the violence was a ‘planned conspiracy’, with an intention to kill.
In an application filed in the court yesterday on December 13, the investigator Vidya Ram Diwakar stated that the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri killings did not occur because of negligence or callousness, but was a planned conspiracy of attempt to murder while being armed with weapons.
The SIT team also sought to invoke charges including attempt to murder and others against the 13 accused currently in Lakhimpur Kheri jail.
Two months back, on October 3, a convoy of three SUVs, including one owned by Union Minister Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’, had run over a group of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh. In the violence, four farmers were killed. The family of a local journalist Raman Kashyap claims that he too died in the incident. Later in the violence, two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and a driver of the SUV owned by the minister were killed.
Also Read: New viral video shows SUV running over people in Lakhimpur Kheri
On October 9, the Union Minister’s son Ashish Mishra, locally known as Monu bhaiya, who was in one of the SUVs that crushed and killed protesting farmers, was arrested by Uttar Pradesh and since then is lodged in Lakhimpur Kheri jail.
On Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra, the Uttar Pradesh police have applied for removal of Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 304A (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), section 279 (negligent driving), and section 338 (causing grievous hurt) against all accused.
Instead, section 307 (attempt to murder), section 326 (causing hurt with dangerous weapon), section 34 (acts done by several persons n furtherance of common intention), and section 3/25 Arms Act be registered against them, the police has said.
On SIT’s application, the Court has ordered adding of charges against the main accused Ashish Mishra Teni and others, agreeing with the investigation.
Meanwhile, farmer leader Yogendra Yadav has also asked to probe who was the ‘mastermind’ behind the ‘planned conspiracy’. Farmers leaders have been demanding immediate arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra in connection with ‘murder and conspiracy’.
Samyukta Kisan Morcha, a farmers’ umbrella body, has demanded the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government to stop ‘shielding’ the guilty.
In a statement issued today, December 14, the farmers’ body said: “The chief mastermind of the incident, Ajay Mishra Teni continues to roam free and hold his position in the Union Government. In the light of the latest findings, SKM demands that the Modi government stop shielding this “conspirator of the Kisan massacre in Lakhimpur Kheri”. It has reiterated its demand for the Union minister’s dismissal and arrest.
Meanwhile, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to dismiss Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni and initiate a probe into his role in the violence.