Ashish Mishra, son of Union minister Ajay Mishra, who was arrested in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, has been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days and placed under Covid quarantine in the district jail here, officials said on Sunday.
Ashish was produced before a court late on Saturday night after around 12 hours of questioning over the violence, in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed.
He was named in an FIR following allegations that he was in one of the vehicles that mowed down the farmers protesting over UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit last Sunday.
Two BJP workers and their driver were allegedly lynched by angry farmers. Local journalist Raman Kashyap also died in the violence.
Sources added that Ashish has been kept in Barrack No. 21.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused the government of the bid to save the minister’s son and said except BJP leaders and their “billionaire friends” nobody is safe in the country.
“We will continue to fight till the Union MoS (Ajay Mishra) resigns,” she said.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which is spearheading the agitation against the Centre’s three farm laws, had alleged that the violence was held under a pre-planned conspiracy and demanded the arrest of the minister and his son.
A nine-member team headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police (Headquarters) Upendra Agarwal has been formed to investigate the FIR lodged against the minister’s son and others in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
