Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Ashish Mishra to remain in judicial custody for now; court to hear matter on Monday

LAKHIMPUR KHERI (UP): Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni's son Ashish Mishra, who was arrested on Saturday night, was produced before the judicial magistrate and will be in judicial custody for the time being, his lawyer Avdesh Kumar Singh informed.

A local court will hear the matter on October 11 on whether Ashish Mishra should be sent to police custody or not, he said.

"He (Ashish Mishra) will be in judicial custody for the time being. He was produced before the judicial magistrate and the police had demanded three-day custody, to which we objected. The matter will be heard on October 11 and it will be decided whether Mishra will be sent to police custody," Singh told reporters here.

Ashish Mishra was later taken to the district jail.

Ashish Mishra was arrested on Saturday after 12 hours of interrogation by the Crime Branch of Uttar Pradesh Police in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case.

According to Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) and Monitoring Committee Chairman Upendra Agrawal, Ashish was arrested as he was not cooperating during the interrogation in the case.

"He was not cooperating during the interrogation and didn't answer a few questions," he stated.

Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of several farmer unions, alleged that Ashish Mishra Teni, son of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni arrived with three vehicles around the time that farmers were dispersing from their protest at the helipad and mowed down farmers and towards the end also attacked SKM leader Tajinder Singh Virk directly, by trying to run a vehicle over him.

However, Ashish Mishra refuted SKM's allegations and said he was not present at the spot where the incident took place.

As many as nine people including four farmers died in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence on October 3.

Two accused identified as Luvkush and Ashish Pandey were arrested earlier in connection with the incident.