Lakhimpur Kheri: Ashish Mishra denied bail, two others arrested

Two more persons were arrested on Wednesday in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, while main accused Ashish Mishra, son of Union minister Ajay Mishra, was denied bail by a local court.

The total number of people arrested in connection with the mowing down of four farmers on October 3 in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri has now gone up to six. Ashish was arrested on October 9 by the special investigation team (SIT) after 12 hours of questioning.

Ankit Das and Latif alias Kale, who appeared before the SIT, were taken in custody after questioning and produced in court which sent them in judicial remand for 14 days, official sources said, as reported by PTI.

While the police sought their custody for interrogation, their lawyer opposed it saying no recovery is to be done from them. The court reserved its order on the application for police remand of the two, they reportedly said.

Senior prosecution officer (SPO) SP Yadav told PTI that Ashish and his alleged accomplice Ashish Pandey moved bail applications on Wednesday but they were rejected by Chief Judicial Magistrate Chinta Ram.

Also read: The politics behind the Lakhimpur violence and its huge cost 

Ashish had been sent to three days in police custody from Tuesday. The court also remanded Shekhar Bharti, arrested on Tuesday, in police custody for three days.

The police have now arrested six persons – Ashish Mishra, Luvkush, Ashish Pandey, Bharti, Ankit and Kale – in connection with the case. Ankit Das and Kale, who is said to be a close friend of Ashish, appeared before the SIT at the crime branch office in Lakhimpur earlier in the day.

The investigators had summoned Das and Kale for questioning in connection with the October 3 violence that had left eight persons, including four farmers, dead. Das is the nephew of former minister Akhilesh Das.

Two BJP workers, a driver of the minister and a journalist were among those killed in the violence.

On Tuesday, Das and Kale had moved an application for surrender before the chief judicial magistrate.

(With inputs from Agencies)

Also read: Farmers’ killing ‘condemnable’, but raise other such issues too: Sitharaman