Accused not yet arrested as they are associated with BJP: Akhilesh on Lakhimpur incident

PTI, Oct 7, 2021, 5:07 PM IST

Lucknow/Lakhimpur: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra”s son has not yet been arrested in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case even though evidence pointed to his role in the incident.

“As fingers are raised towards MoS (Ajay Mishra) in the BJP government, the accused in Lakhimpur case are not yet sent to jail,” Yadav said while speaking to reporters at his residence in Lucknow before heading to Lakhimpur to meet the aggrieved families.

“Those named in the FIR should go to jail. Government should take immediate action and the matter should be probed by a sitting judge of the High Court. There are videos clips, statements of eyewitnesses, the statement (of minister) in which he is threatening. As he (accused Ashish Mishra) is the son of the MoS, action has note been taken yet,” he said.

“Do you think farmers can get justice till he (father of accused) is MoS?” he asked.

The UP government has constituted a one-member commission headed by retired judge of Allahabad High Court Justice Pradeep Kumar Srivastava to probe the incident, a senior Home Department official said on Thursday.

When asked about the BJP’s allegation that the opposition is doing politics on the matter, Yadav said, “The BJP is doing politics and it is a clever party. We want to know what was done in the Kanpur Manish Gupta case. Why are policemen still absconding. Why is an absconding IPS officer not arrested?”

Kanpur-based businessman Manish Gupta had died under suspicious circumstances inside a hotel in Gorakhpur on Monday and six policemen were booked on charges of murder.

After meeting family members of Lovepreet Singh (19) in Lakhimpur, Yadav said the family wants justice.

“People from all political parties are here so that the families get justice. The son of a minister will not be arrested as there is a BJP government both in UP and at the Centre,” he said demanding Rs 2 crore compensation to the victims” families.

“The Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the matter. It has generated hope among the poor families for getting justice,” the SP president said, adding that the minister and his son are guilty and all the reality will come out in the open in the apex court.

The former chief minister assured that if the BJP government did not help them, he will do all that is possible when his party is voted to power in the upcoming state assembly elections.

He also met the family of deceased journalist Raman Kashyap and will also pay a visit to the kin of Nacchatar Singh (65) during his visit.

Yadav had tried to visit Lakhimpur Kheri on Monday but was stopped outside his home by the police.

On October 3, eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri with four of them being farmers, who were allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya to an event in the area.

The other four were two BJP workers, a driver of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra and a journalist working for a private television channel.