LAKHIMPUR/LUCKNOW: For hours on Friday, UP Police waited for Union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra Teni’s son to show up. Ashish Mishra has been accused of killing four farmers in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence on Sunday and was summoned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) at 10am on Friday. More than two hours after that, he sent word to the police that he was unwell and couldn’t make it. He has been summoned again on Saturday.
“Ashish Mishra did not turn up for questioning. We have issued another notice, asking him to present himself on Saturday,” DIG (headquarters) Upendra Agarwal, who is heading the SIT set up on Thursday, told TOI. “He has informed us he will appear.”
In a second notice put up outside Mishra’s Lakhimpur house, UP Police said, “You were summoned to present your case before the police but you didn’t do that. You are summoned again on October 9 at 11am to the crime branch police lines at Lakhimpur Kheri. If you fail to turn up, action will be taken in keeping with due procedure.”
In the afternoon, Teni landed at the Lucknow airport and told the media that Ashish would “present himself” before investigative agencies with proof of his innocence.
“Phone location records will show my son was not at the spot when the incident happened,” the minister said. “If you have seen the videos from October 3, you know rioters disguised as farmers lynched people. I believe my son, too, would have been killed had he been present at the spot.” Teni, who has denied his son’s role in the Lakhimpur Kheri killings, added, “I hold such a high office. Had it been another party, not even an FIR would have been lodged.”
Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who had accompanied Teni to the event at Tikunia which the farmers were protesting against on Sunday when it spiralled into violence, said, “The Lakhimpur incident is unfortunate. The guilty will not be spared. We want to assure the people of the state that at no cost will culprits be spared and no post or pressure will be of use for the accused.”
On Friday morning, when Ashish’s whereabouts were not clear, Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella body of protesting farmer organisations, had issued a statement, saying “protective tactics” were being used “to ensure that Ashish Mishra is roaming free”. It added, “News reports indicate that he is changing locations and is absconding, with several UP Police teams searching for him.”
When asked why Ashish was not present on Friday morning, his counsel Avdhesh Kumar Singh told the media, “Many committees have been formed. Which one issued the notice is not something I know. He has not been summoned to court. He has been summoned by a police committee.” Singh had earlier represented Teni in a murder case. While speaking about Teni’s old case, Singh added, “Ashish doesn’t have a criminal history. One or two cases registered against him are due to political rivalry.”
UP Police issued numbers and a mail ID for people to share evidence related to the incident. On Friday evening, internet services were suspended in the district again.
