The peaceful march by farmers protesting new laws was marred when Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra mowed down the band in his way. Thereafter, it has been a tumultuous ride for the accused, the farmers seeking justice and the law-enforcing agencies.
Finally, Monday saw the Uttar Pradesh police’s special investigation team submit a 5,000-page chargesheet in a local court. The entry of the big trunk, with the chargesheet running into 5,000 pages, was a
It was submitted in the court of chief judicial magistrate, Lakhimpur town. Hereon, a trial will start only if the court accepts the chargesheet.
“Yes, the chargesheet has been filed,” senior prosecution officer SP Yadav told reporters in Lakhimpur.
Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s jailed son Ashish Mishra is the main accused in the murder of four farmers and a journalist in Lakhimpur Kheri in October last year. In all, four farmers and a journalist were mowed down by the speeding convoy. The gruesome incident has been recorded on video. Violence followed the incident which led three more, including two BJP workers, killed.
The UP police filed a first information report, or FIR, naming Ashish Mishra and 12 others as murder accused the next day, but it took them a week and the Supreme Court’s intervention to arrest the Union Minister’s son.
“The chargesheet has been submitted but when we filed the FIR, we had named Ajay Mishra Teni. However, his name was not included in the FIR. We have given a representation to the SIT to include his name but it has not happened. We do not feel proper investigation has happened. The Thar SUV was in the name of the minister but he has not been named. We may have to go court asking for proper investigation. We are not satisfied with the investigation,” said Mohd Amaan, lawyer for the farmers.
Last month, the SIT told the designated local court that the killing of the farmers and the journalist was a “planned conspiracy” with intent to kill and not a case of death by negligence.
The charges of rash driving against Ashish Mishra and the others should be modified, the police team investigating the case wrote to the judge.
Two FIRs were filed by the Lakhimpur Police – one was by the dead farmers’ families, who named Ashish Mishra as the main accused; the other was by Sumit Jaiswal, a BJP worker in Lakhimpur, against unnamed farmers.
