- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
ASHISH Mishra, the son of India’s minister of state for home affairs Ajay Mishra Teni, who has been accused of mowing down protesting farmers in Lahimpur Kheri district of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on October 3, killing four, failed to turn up before the local police on Friday (10) to record his statement.
Ashish was summoned to appear at the crime branch office in the reserve police lines. But he did not come at the given time. Police sources told Indo-Asian News Service that Ashish’s mobile phone was being tracked and on Thursday (7), his location was found to be near Gauriphanta on UP’s border with Nepal. However, the minister’s son was apparently shifting base and the latest reports said he was in Bajpura in the neighbouring state of Uttarakhand.
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“We have alerted our counterparts in Uttarakhand and also Nepal, and teams have been set up to search for him,” a senior police officer said the news outlet.
Workers at Ashish’s residence in Lakhimpur’s Shahpura area said he had left home “two days ago”. The man was reportedly apprehensive of being arrested following Sunday’s incident that sparked a violence that resulted in the death of eight people in all.
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Former UP chief minister and president of the Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said the minister had old connections with Nepal and it is now up to the Narendra Modi government in New Delhi to intervene in the matter.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of India expressed its disappointment over the role of the Bharatiya Janata Party government of UP in the matter. Hearing a public interest litigation, the top court expressed its take on the issue which has caused a massive outrage across India. Senior advocate Harish Salve, who appeared for the UP government in the court, said Ashish had been asked to appear for questioning and if he did not turn up, strict law would be enforced.
On Thursday (7), the Supreme Court sought a report from the state government about the status of the FIR (first information report) filed in the case and whether any of the accused had been arrested.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, which is spearheading the farmers’ protest against the Modi government’s three contentious agricultural laws, was set to hold a meeting on Friday to chart out the next course of action on Lakhimpur violence.
