Lakhimpur Kheri case: SIT urged Uttar Pradesh government to scrap Ashish Misra's bail twice

A special investigation team, appointed by the Supreme Court, probing the Lakhimpur Kheri case has filed its status report and has recommended the Uttar Pradesh government to cancel the bail granted to prime accused Ashish Mishra twice.

According to media reports, the SIT investigating the case has stated that evidence substantiated that Ashish Misra, son of Union minister Ajay Misra Teni, was at the spot of the violence that killed eight people.

"The head of SIT wrote to the Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, Uttar Pradesh on 10.02.2022 and 14.02.2022 respectively requesting an urgent appeal in the Hon'ble Supreme Court for cancellation of bail of the accused in view of the ongoing investigation and possibility of the threat to the witnesses including 98 witnesses who are provided protection," said the committee.

The report also informed that Ashish Mishra was aware of the change in the route taken by UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on October 3, the day of the incident, to attend a function.

"It is also substantiated that the 13 accused (and three dead accused) went to the scene of the crime in a premeditated manner, using three vehicles in a convoy and driving them at a very high speed on a narrow road which was full of people gathered to protest," the report added.

"There are two letters sent by the SIT to the Additional chief secretary (home) of the Uttar Pradesh government by the monitoring judge who had written to the state to file appeal in SC to cancel bail of main accused Ashish Mishra," the SC bench, comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, had said.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will hear the plea challenging the grant of bail to Ashish Mishra on Monday.

The prime accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, Ashish Misra, was arrested on October 9 last year in connection with the violence that erupted in the area.

On October 3, 2021, major violence broke out in the Lakhimpur Kheri district in Uttar Pradesh, where 8 people were killed when farmers were protesting against UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the area. Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV.