BAREILLY: Ballistic experts found "major inconsistencies" in a local BKU leader's claim that he was fired at while he was driving home in his car, police said, and suggested that the firing might have been faked to obtain an arms licence.
The experts from Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Lucknow, in their report, have said that the car owned by the Kheri district president of Bhartiya Kisan Union-Tikait and also a key witness in the Lakhimpuri Kheri violence case last year, was stationary when it was hit by bullets.
"The forensic experts had recovered the bullet shell near the tyre. In case if the car was moving then it would have been recovered at a distance of minimum 15-20 metres considering the speed of a car. Also, two witnesses in this case have recorded their statements before the court claiming that the farmer leader had planned an attack on himself. We are not considering it as conclusive evidence and waiting for the final ballistic report,” SP Kheri Sanjeev Suman told TOI.
BKU district president, in his FIR at the Gola Kotwali police station, had said two bike-borne armed men had opened fire on his car on the Aliganj-Muda on May 31. He had alleged that the attackers first punctured a tyre of his moving car with bullet shots and fired at his driving side window, but he escaped unhurt.
“It is a very sensitive case and the victim is a witness in a very high profile case so we are not leaving any stone unturned. The investigation is being carried out using forensic as well as circumstantial evidence. We have also changed the security guard of the victim and have suspended the previous guard who went on leave without my orders. We may question the victim after receiving the complete ballistic report but there are no plans to arrest him, “the SP added.
This was the third such attack on eyewitnesses in the case against Ashish Mishra, whose convoy allegedly mowed down four farmers and a journalist on October 3, last year. Co-incidentally, the security personnel were absent during all the three instances.
