Express News Service
LUCKNOW: With the Special Investigation Team (SIT) tightening the noose around the six accused arrested so far in the Lakhimpur violence case, police brought Ankit Das, a close associate of prime accused Ashish Mishra, to the state capital Lucknow on Friday.
Ankit Das was arrested in connection with the October 3 violence on October 13 along with his bodyguard Latif aka Kale.
So far, six accused – Ashish Mishra, Ankit Das, Ashish Pandey, Luvkush, Latif aka Kale and Shekhar Bharti – have been arrested and grilled by the SIT in connection with the violence under Tikunia police station during which eight persons, including four farmers, had lost their lives in Lakhimpur Kheri.
As per sources, Ankit Das, who lives in Lucknow, was brought to the state capital for the recovery of the weapons which were allegedly used during the violence on October 3.
It may be recalled that initially IG Lucknow zone, Lakshmi Singh, had claimed that the police party had recovered empty shells from the spot of the incident. Later, when the SIT was set up to probe the case, the investigation team had reportedly recovered the cartridges from the Thar Mahindra SUV which had allegedly ploughed into the group of protesting farmers crushing four of them to death on the fateful day.
Sources claimed that during the interrogation of the accused, especially Ankit Das, the use of weapons like pistol and repeater gun had come to light.
Earlier, late on Thursday night, Ashish Mishra, the prime accused in the Lakhimpur violence and son of Union MoS Ajay Mishra Teni, was sent back to the district jail as his police remand had ended.
However, before bringing Ankit and his bodyguard to Lucknow, SIT chief DIG Upendra Agarwal interrogated him, Latif and Shekhar Bharti at the crime branch office of Lakhimpur Kheri. All three were questioned about the presence of Ashish Mishra at the spot of the violence and his role in the incident on the fateful day.
The SIT had taken all four — Ashish Mishra, Ankit Das, Latif and Shekhar Bharti — to the spot for recreation of the crime scene on Thursday.
Meanwhile, police teams are trying to nab Sumit Jaiswal who was seen fleeing one of the vehicles at the site of the crime in a number of videos. It was Sumit Jaiswal who had lodged a cross FIR against the unidentified 20 farmers for lynching the driver Om Prakash Tiwari and two BJP workers during the incident.
The lawyers of Ashish Mishra, whose bail application was dismissed by the CJM court on Wednesday, are now planning to apply for his bail in the sessions court of Lakhimpur Kheri, said sources.
