Lakhimpur Kheri violence: UP Police arrests two, says main accused Ashish Mishra next

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: The UP Police on Thursday arrested two persons — Luv Kush and Ashish Pandey — for their role in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence in which eight persons including four farmers had lost their lives on Sunday.

The arrests were made after the Supreme Court questioned the UP government about the action taken in connection with the case. The cops have also detained three persons.

The police said they may nab Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra, any moment on Thursday as a search is on for him. Ashish is the main accused in the violence case and has been charged under eight sections of the IPC including murder, rioting, and criminal conspiracy.

According to UP Police IG Lucknow range Lakshmi Singh, the police have been searching for Ashish Mishra to arrest him over the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

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IG Lakshmi Singh said that while the police had launched a search for Ashish, the videos and other information that went viral on social media in connection with the violence had also been sought to further the probe.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government has nominated retired judge of Allahabad High Court Justice Pradeep Kumar Srivastava to hold a judicial probe into Sunday’s violence which has caught the attention of the whole country.

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The constitution of the single-member judicial panel has been done to fulfil the demand of the farmers who claimed that it was Ashish Mishra who ran his SUV over those who had been protesting peacefully against the visit of UP deputy CM Keshav Maurya at Tikunia in Lakhimpur Kheri.

However, Ashish Mishra and his father Ajay Mishra have been consistently claiming that Ashish was not at the spot of incident. “Allegations against me are completely baseless and I demand a judicial inquiry into this matter and the culprits should get punished,” Ashish had said.