Lucknow, Feb 10 : The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Thursday granted bail to Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra who is the prime accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence of October 3. Justice Rajeev Singh granted the bail to Ashish Mishra after hearing the case. On January 18, the Allahabad High Court had reserved its order on Ashish Mishra’s bail plea.
The Lucknow bench reserved its order on Mishra’s plea after concluding the hearing through video-conferencing. The counsel for Ashish Mishra told the court that his client was innocent and there was no evidence that he incited the driver of a vehicle to crush the farmers who were protesting. Opposing the plea, Additional Advocate General V K Shahi said at the time of the incident that Mishra was in the car that crushed the farmers under its wheels. The defence counsel disputed this point.
In his bail plea, Ashish Mishra argued that he was not in his car when the incident took place and was attending a Dangal function in village Banveerpur, which is four kilometers away from the place of the incident. The bail plea said his presence at the Dangal function is backed by the electronic record and mobile location. Ashish Mishra was arrested on October 9, six days after four farmers were killed along with a journalist and three others after being mowed down by an SUV. The SUV was said to be part of a convoy of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs and BJP MP Ajay Kumar Mishra. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on January 3 filed a chargesheet in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence naming Ashish Mishra as the prime accused. However, the 5,000-page charge sheet did not name the Union Minister but the name of Virendra Shukla, a relative of Asish Mishra, was added as an accused.
