An FIR has been registered against former Union minister of state and BJP leader Ajay Mishra Teni, his son Ashish Mishra and two others for allegedly threatening a witness in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, officials said. This comes after the Supreme Court in August pulled up the Uttar Pradesh Police for failing to look into to the witness' complaint that he was threatened in August 2023 against deposing in the case involving the Lakhimpur Kheri violence in which four farmers and a journalist were killed after a Mahindra Thar owned by Ashish Mishra ran over them during the protests against the Central government's farm laws. In the ensuing violence, two BJP leaders and the Thar driver were killed. Ashish, the prime accused in the case, is currently out on bail. The case was filed at the Paduwa police station on Saturday under sections 195-A (threatening any person to give false evidence), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (invoked retrospectively) against Ajay Mishra, Ashish Mishra, one Amandeep Singh and an unidentified person. Lakhimpur Kheri Superintendent of Police (SP) Sankalp Sharma said an investigation has started into the matter. The complainant, Baljinder Singh, had claimed he was among the protesting farmers injured after being hit by a vehicle. Both the police and a magistrate had recorded his statement. He had alleged that Amandeep Singh and another man, allegedly close to Ajay Mishra, came to his house on August 16, 2023, before he was to leave to depose in court, pressured him not to testify and offered him money besides issuing threats. He had also claimed to have recorded the conversation with the two men on his phone. Following the incident, he along with his family relocated to live in his in-laws’ house after leasing out his entire village land out of fear, Baljinder had said. Two cross-FIRs were registered in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case at the Tikonia police station and the trial in both cases is on.
