Lakhimpur Kheri: Retired judge visits spot of deaths, MoS Ajay Mishra’s village

Three IPS officers — Additional Director General SB Shiradkar, Inspector General Padmaja Chauhan, and Deputy Inspector General Preetinder Singh, who were incorporated into the SIT on the direction of the Supreme Court — also accompanied Justice Jain.

Lakhimpur Kheri violence, Lakhimpur Kheri violence supreme court, Lakhimpur Kheri violence judge, Rakesh Kumar Jain, current affairs, current affairs news, Indian express

A vehicle set ablaze after violence broke out after farmers agitating were allegedly run over by a vehicle in the convoy of a union minister, in Lakhimpur Kheri. (PTI/File)

Retired Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, who was appointed by the Supreme Court to monitor the SIT probe, on Thursday visited the spot in Lakhimpur Kheri where eight persons, including four farmers, were killed on October 3.

Three IPS officers — Additional Director General SB Shiradkar, Inspector General Padmaja Chauhan, and Deputy Inspector General Preetinder Singh, who were incorporated into the SIT on the direction of the Supreme Court — also accompanied Justice Jain.

Union Minister of State (Home) Ajay Mishra’s son, Ashish, is the prime accused and is currently in jail.

“Justice (retired) Rakesh Kumar Jain and the three IPS officers later went to Banveerpur, the ancestral village of Union Minister Ajay Mishra. They remained there for around an hour and later returned,” said a senior official in Lakhimpur Kheri.

While the farmers alleged that Ashish Mishra was in one of the SUVs that allegedly mowed down four farmers and a local journalist at Tikonia crossing, the minister’s son had claimed that he was at Banveerpur village at the time of the incident watching a wrestling match. Tikonia crossing is around 2 km from Banveerpur village.

Meanwhile, the state government withdrew the notification to appoint retired Allahabad High Court judge Justice Pradeep Kumar Srivastava to the single-member probe commission. This came in the wake of the Supreme Court appointing Justice (retired) Rakesh Kumar Jain to monitor the probe.

The SIT has so far arrested 13 persons into the killing of four farmers and a journalist. Four persons have been arrested for the killing of two BJP leaders and a driver of SUV Mahindra Thar owned by Ajay Mishra.

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