Express News Service
LUCKNOW: Having failed to nab Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s son Ashish Mishra, who didnot show up for questioning in connection with his complicity in Lakhimpur Kheri violence before the crime branch on Friday, Uttar Pradesh police pasted a second summon notice at Mishra’s Lakhimpur residence.
In the new notice, police authorities probing the case, ordered Ashish, the main accused in the violence that rocked the district last Sunday resulting in the death of eight persons including four farmers, to present himself before the police probe panel at Lakhimpur police lines at 11 am on Saturday.
Ashish Mishra ignored the summon notice pasted at his residence by the police on Thursday. He was asked to present himself at the police line for questioning at 10 am on Friday but the accused did not turn up at all.
However, trying to explain the reason behind his son’s absence before police authorities in response to the first summon notice, union minister for home Ajay Mishra Teni said: “My son was summoned yesterday but he could not report to police authorities on Friday due to health reasons. He will report tomorrow.”Ajay Mishra was talking to media persons at Lucknow airport after landing from Delhi on Friday.
Rejecting the reports that Ashish Mishra has absconded with one of his aides Ankit Das and had been changing locations, the minister said that his son was at home in Lakhimpur. “My son is currently at his residence in Lakhimpur Kheri. Our government is investigating the matter without any bias. Action will be taken against the accused,” said Ajay Mishra adding that opposition was indulging in negative politics over the issue.
A countrywide outrage erupted after eight people were killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri district, while farmers were staging a protest against the visit of UP Deputy CM Keshav Maurya who had gone there to attend a programme organised by Mishra.
The second notice from the Uttar Pradesh police came hours after the Supreme Court slammed the Yogi Adityanath government for failing to arrest Ashish Mishra. It then ordered the administration to apprise the top court of an alternative agency that can conduct the probe.
The police source on Friday morning also claimed that Ashish Mishra had absconded and that he was changing his locations frequently. Initially, his location along with one of his aides Ankit Das was found to be in Nepal followed by Uttarakhand.
However, one of the relatives of Ashish Mishra, Abhijat Mishra also claimed that Ashish is not absconding and that he would surrender before the crime branch soon.
The summons being pasted on the residence of Mishras are issued by the six-member committee headed by additional superintendent of police. The panel has been set to help in investigating two cases registered in connection with the violence.
The probe committee also comprises two deputy superintendents of police and three officers of inspector rank. Police constables with a good grasp of the technical aspects of policing are also there to assist the probe panel.
While in one of these cases, Ashish Mishra and 15-20 unidentified persons have been charged with murder and criminal conspiracy under eight different sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the second FIR was lodged by a local resident, Sumit Jaiswal, against unidentified miscreants who had allegedly beaten to death four persons.
The case was registered under various IPC sections, including 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 336 (act endangering the life and personal safety of others).
However, amid nationwide uproar over the deaths of farmers, who were run over by a convoy of vehicles one of which belonged to Mishra, the chorus for union minister’s resignation has been getting shriller.
