Lakhimpur Kheri violence: MoS Mishra’s son, others to face trial, murder among charges

On Monday, the court had rejected the discharge applications of the accused.

Arvind Tripathi, Lakhimpur Kheri district government counsel, said, “Additional District and Sessions Judge Sunil Kumar Verma framed charges against all 14 accused in the case. Charges against 13 accused, including Ashish Mishra, who are lodged in jail, were framed through video conference.”

Tripathi said Ashish’s uncle Virendra Kumar Shukla, the 14th accused who has been charged under IPC section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), appeared before the court.

Tripathi said charges against the 13 accused in judicial custody have been framed under IPC sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of the common object), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy). Charges under the Motor Vehicle Act have also been framed against the 13 accused.

Besides Ashish Mishra, the other accused are Ankit Das, Nandan Das Bhist, Satyam Tripathi alias Satya Prakash Tripathi, Lateef alias Kalley, Shekhar Bharti, Sumit Jaiswal, Ashish Pandey, Luvkush, Shishupal, Ullas Kumar Trivedi alias Mohit Trivedi, Rinku Rana and Dharmendra Kumar Banjara.

Tripathi said charges under the Arms Act have been framed against six persons: Ashish Mishra, Ankit Das, Nandan Bhist,Satyam Tripathi, Lateef and Sumit Jaiswal.

The complainant of the case is Jagjeet Singh, a resident of Lakhimpur Kheri.

On October 3, 2021, a convoy of SUVs allegedly ran over a group of protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri. Four farmers and a journalist were killed and several others were injured.

In the violence that followed, two BJP workers and the driver of one of the vehicles were killed.

In this case, a chargesheet was filed against four persons in January this year. The accused – Vichitra Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Gurvinder Singh and Kamaljeet Singh – are in judicial custody and the court framed charges against them on Monday.