Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Six-member team headed by Addl SP to probe 2 FIRs

The second FIR was lodged by a local resident, Sumit Jaiswal, against unidentified miscreants who had allegedly beaten to death four persons, a police officer said.

A six-member committee headed by an officer of the rank of an additional superintendent of police has been formed to help in investigation into two cases registered in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.

In one of these cases, Union MoS Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra has been charged with murder and criminal conspiracy. The probe committee also comprises two deputy superintendents of police and three officers of inspector rank. Police constables with a good grasp of the technical aspects of policing will also assist the probe panel.

The second FIR was lodged by a local resident, Sumit Jaiswal, against unidentified miscreants who had allegedly beaten to death four persons, a police officer said. The case was registered under various IPC sections, including 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 336 (act endangering the life and personal safety of others).

Inspector General, Lucknow Range, Laxmi Singh said over the course of the investigation, several pieces of evidence have to be scrutinised which is too much for a lone sub-inspector. She added that since a need was felt to involve personnel with good technical knowledge for an unbiased probe, a committee was put together under the leadership of ASP, Lakhimpur Kheri.

Over the last couple of days, several purported video clips of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, in which four farmers were allegedly run over by a car from the Union minister’s convoy and four more died during a clash that erupted thereafter, have been doing the rounds of the social media.

State Director General of Police Mukul Goel said all the viral clips will be sent for examination, adding that no arrest has been made in the case so far. UP police still hasn’t confirmed if shots had been fired during Sunday’s clash in Lakhimpur Kheri.

Asked if firing had taken place, the DGP said it would be looked into during the investigation.

In one of the FIRs, Jagjeet Singh, brother of one of the dead farmers, Daljeet Singh, claimed that the minister’s son had opened fire on protesting farmers because of which 22-year-old Gurvinder Singh, one of the protesters, suffered a bullet injury and died. He further alleged that Ashish Mishra and his father had conspired the attack.

Jagjeet claimed that the farmers had planned to show black flags to Ajay Mishra and UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya during the protest. They were protesting over a purported video clip where the Union MoS is heard openly threatening to drag the protesting farmers out of the state.

The Union government hasn’t yet taken any action against the minister over his alleged remark.

The complainant, in one of the FIRs, alleged that around 3pm on Sunday, the minister’s son, along with 15-20 unidentified persons with weapons arrived at the protest site from Banveerpur village in three vehicles being driven at great speed. Seated inside one of the vehicles, as per the complaint, Ashish Mishra allegedly opened fire even as his car ploughed into the crowd of protesters. The other two vehicles also ran people over in the melee, the complainant further alleged.

 

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