Union Minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish arrested in Lakhimpur violence case

Sitapur: Union minister Ajay Mishra's son, the primary accused of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, Ashish Mishra was arrested on Saturday after hours of interrogation by the Special Investigation Team. The arrest was confirmed by deputy inspector general Upendra Agarwal who is heading the SIT. A day after staying away from interrogation, Ashish Mishra appeared before the investigation team on Saturday morning. The interrogation lasted for hours as the special investigation team prepared over a dozen of questions for the Union minister's son. However, the answers received during the marathon questioning were not satisfactory, police said. Towards the evening, unconfirmed reports claimed that he was arrested but the confirmation came only on Saturday night.

“He was arrested after he failed to cooperate in the interrogation. He could not inform or validate various points regarding his whereabouts at the time of the incident on the day of the incident. And we will try to get information after getting him on police remand,” Upendra Agarwal said. 

While Ashish was facing interrogation, his father Ajay Mishra Teni was huddling with a group of lawyers, reports said.

After two of his aides were arrested, the police pasted a notice on the Union minister's residence asking his son to be present before the investigation committee. On Friday, Ashish did not appear before the committee and his father said he was not well; he would be present on Saturday. 

Ashish was named in the FIR as the main accused of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident where four farmers were crushed by a vehicle in which Ashish was allegedly present. Four others were killed in the violence that began after the incident on last Sunday in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri.

The FIR said Ashish managed to get out of that overturned car and opened fire. The Union minister has denied his son's link with the incident and said earlier that it was his car but his son was not present there. He also claimed that the driver of the car lost balance as stones were pelted on the car.

Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly election, the Lakhimpur Kheri has become a major political issue with the Congress taking to the streets over this issue. Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi visited Lakhimpur Kheri earlier this week. The party has asked its state/UT unit chiefs to observe 'maun vrat' on Monday in protest of Lakhimpur violence. The removal of the Union minister is one of the demands of the Congress.

The UP Police sprung into action after being rapped by the Supreme Court which on Thursday asked the government how many arrests it has made so far regarding the case, as four days had already passed between the incident and the Supreme Court taking up the case. While the police arrested two of Ashish Mishra's aides and summoned Mishra to appear for interrogation, the apex court on Friday said it was not satisfied with the investigation done by the Uttar Pradesh Police.