Ashish Mishra and other accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, were produced in the Lakhimpur court, on Friday, Oct. 22, 2021. File | Photo Credit: PTI
The Supreme Court on Monday (January 20, 2025) sought a report from the Uttar Pradesh police on allegations that accused Ashish Mishra, son of union minister Ajay Mishra, was influencing witnesses in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh directed the Lakhimpur Kheri superintendent of police to file the report in the court after a fact-finding inquiry.
Mr. Mishra, however, denied the allegations in his affidavit and said that every time the matter came up in court, such changes were made to cancel his bail granted by the high court.
Adv Prashant Bhushan, representing the plaintiffs, said that he has audio recordings of attempts to influence key witnesses in the case. He also pointed out that Mishra had attended a public meeting in violation of the bail conditions.
Wanting to cancel the bail of Mr. Mishra, Mr. Bhushan said the court may verify the authenticity of the material brought before it.
Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, who represented Mr.
He also said that his client was at the Lok Sabha Secretariat in Delhi on the day of this public meeting.
The bench asked Bhushan and Dave to submit their material to Ruchira Goel, the standing counsel for the Uttar Pradesh government, for submitting it to the Lakhimpur Kheri SP.
It had sent the matter for further hearing after four weeks.
The SC granted bail to Mr. Mishra on July 22 last year and restricted his travel to Delhi or Lucknow.
On October 3, 2021, eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Tikunia in Lakhimpur Kheri district during a farmers’ protest against Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit to the area.
Four farmers were hit by a sports car. The driver and two BJP workers were then killed by angry farmers. A journalist also died in this violence.
Published – January 20, 2025 12:56 pm IST