Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 3: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Uttar Pradesh Police Probing into the Lakhimpur Kheri violence on Monday filed a 5,000-page charge-sheet against 14 people including the son of an union minister for the alleged “pre-planned murder” of four farmers and a local journalist in the incident.
Besides the four protesting farmers and a journalist allegedly mowed down by three speeding cars in the October 3 violence at the Tikonia area in Lakhimpur Kheri, three others including two BJP workers and the driver of one of the three cars involved in the incident were killed in the subsequent mob violence that broke out after the farmers and the journalist were crushed under the wheels of the cars.
Among the 14 against whom the charge-sheet was filed was Ashish Mishra, the son of the union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra Teni, and Virendra Shukla, a relative of Ajay Mishra who owned one of the cars involved in the incident. Shukla’s name was not included in the FIR but was added later after the investigating team recovered the car involved in the incident from his residence.
“On Monday, the SIT filed a charge-sheet which is around 5,000 pages against 14 persons into the death of four farmers and a journalist in the local court of Lakhimpur. The charge-sheet has been filed on various charges, including murder and attempt to murder,” said senior prosecuting officer SP Yadav.
Of the charge-sheeted, 13, including Ashish Mishra, are in jail currently. Virendra Kumar Shukla, also a ‘block pramukh,’ has not yet been arrested but a notice has been issued against him. Shukla is also charged with destruction of evidence in the case. Lucknow native Ankit Das, the nephew of former Rajya Sabha member Akhilesh Das, is also one of the 14 charge-sheeted.
Besides Ashish Mishra, Virendra Shukla and Ankit Das, the other charge-sheeted accused are Nandan Das Bhist, Satyam Tripathi alias Satya Prakash Tripathi, Lateef alias Kalley, Shekhar Bharti, Sumit Jaiswal, Ashish Pandey, Luvkush, Shishupal, Ullas Kumar Trivedi alias Mohit Trivedi, Rinku Rana and Dharmendra Kumar Banjara. Ashish Mishra’s bail application is pending in the high court while that of others is pending in the Lakhimpur Kheri local court.
The SIT had recently filed a report in a local court stating the killing of four farmers and a journalist on October 3 was not accidental or caused by negligence driving as was originally presumed but was a “planned conspiracy.” It added that the killings “did not happen due to negligence or callousness” and that the actions of the accused were “deliberate with an intention to kill.”
On the SIT’s request, the court added two charges, including attempt to murder and voluntarily causing grievous hurt against the accused. Sections of the Arms Act were also invoked.
The charge-sheet against 13 persons, including Ashish Mishra, has been filed under IPC sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and sections under the Arms Act.
Against Virendra Kumar Shukla, the charge-sheet is filed under IPC section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving information to screen offender).
On October 3, a convoy of three SUVs, including one Thar owned by Ajay Mishra, allegedly ran over a group of farmers assembled at the Tikonia crossing to show black flags to Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who was scheduled to visit Mishra’s village Banveerpur for an event.
The farmers were allegedly protesting over a purported video clip in which Ajay Mishra was heard allegedly threatening to drag the protesting farmers out of the state.
After the four farmers were run over, an enraged mob allegedly lynched two BJP leaders Shubham Mishra (26) and Shyam Sunder (40) and Ajay Mishra’s SUV driver Hari Om Mishra (35). They also set ablaze the Thar and a Toyota Fortuner owned by Ankit Das. The driver of the third SUV, a Mahindra Scorpio, escaped with his vehicle.
The deceased farmers were identified as Lovepreet Singh (20), Daljeet Singh (35), Nachattar Singh (60) and Gurvinder Singh (19) and the deceased journalist as Raman Kashyap (30).
Two FIRs were lodged at the Tikonia police station in connection with the incident.
The first one was lodged by Bahraich resident Jagjeet Singh against Ashish Mishra and 15-20 unidentified people on various charges, including murder, rioting, death by negligence and criminal conspiracy. Jagjeet Singh claimed to be holding a peaceful protest when Ashish Mishra and his associates came in three four-wheelers with arms and weapons at high speed. Ashish Mishra, while sitting on the left side of the Mahindra Thar car, fired shots and crushed people while moving forward, said the complaint.
Ajay Mishra maintained that his son Ashish Mishra was at a wrestling event in his ancestral village Banveerpur, around 2 km away, when the incident occurred. The farmers, however, alleged that he (Ashish) was present in one of the vehicles.
The second FIR has been lodged by BJP leader and local corporator Sumit Jaiswal against unidentified miscreants protesting at the site, on different charges, including murder, voluntarily causing hurt and act endangering life or personal safety of others.
The police made the first arrest in the killing of farmers four days after the incident. The arrested persons were identified as Ashish Pandey and Luvkush Rana. Later, 11 more accused were held.
Ashish Mishra was arrested by the SIT on October 10 for alleged non-cooperation and evasive replies during interrogation. Ankit Das was arrested a few days later.
Following allegations that the accused had fired at the farmers while fleeing the spot, the SIT seized four weapons, including Ashish Mishra’s rifle. Although forensic tests of the weapons showed they had been discharged, autopsies found that none of the eight killed had sustained a gunshot injury.
On November 17, the Supreme Court upgraded the SIT by incorporating three IPS officers S B Shiradkar, Padmaja Chauhan and Preetinder Singh “to preserve the faith and trust of people in the criminal administration of the justice system.” It also appointed retired Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain to monitor the probe. Following the Supreme Court order, the state government dissolved the one-man probe commission of Justice Pradeep Kumar Srivastava, a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court.
In the second case, the SIT has so far arrested seven people, namely Avtar, Ranjeet, Vichitra Singh, Kamaljeet Singh, Kavaljeet Singh, Gurpreet Singh and Gurvinder Singh.