Lakhimpur violence: Ashish Mishra arrested after a prolonged 10-hour interrogation

LUCKNOW: In a late night development, Ashish Mishra, main accused of Lakhimpur violence case and son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’, was arrested by the district police after a prolonged 10-hour questioning by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of crime branch, headed by DIG Upendra Agarwal, in Lakhimpur on Saturday.

Confirming the arrest, senior police authorities, who are part of the SIT, said that Ashish was taken into custody as he was not cooperating in the investigation and was not able to answer many questions satisfactorily.

Moreover, the sources claimed that following the interrogation, the SIT recommended the district police to add some more sections of IPC in the FIR lodged against Ashish Mishra as they were not convinced enough with his side of the story about the violence which rocked the Terai district on last Sunday.

As the interrogation of Ashish Mishra continued till late Saturday evening by the six-member SIT in the Lakhimpur crime branch office, he reportedly provided videos and affidavits of 10 persons to the police authorities to prove that he was not inside the vehicle that ploughed into the group of protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri last week.

However, the police sources said that the evidence pointed towards his presence on the spot of violence on Sunday. Moreover, it was also claimed that Ashish Mishra himself was driving the Thar Mahindra SUV which ran over the group of protesting farmers.

Police sources also confirmed that Ashish could not present satisfactory proof to show that he was not in the vehicle.

Ashish Misra appeared before the Special investigation team of crime branch set up by Uttar Pradesh Police to probe into Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, on Saturday at around 10:40 am.

His interrogation began soon after as the SIT had come prepared with a 40-question list to quiz Ashish over the violence which claimed eight lives including four farmers.

The sources said that during his questioning, Ashish claimed his innocence by reiterating that he was not present at Tikunia, the site of the incident. He reportedly insisted that he was at a ‘dangal’ (wrestling competition) taking place at Banbirpur village, some 3-4 km away from Tikunia, when the violence broke out.