The bail plea of Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni, has been rejected by the Allahabad High court today in the Lakhimpur violence case registered in October 2021. The counsel for Ashish Mishra had filed a fresh bail plea after the Supreme Court in February this year overturned an earlier order of the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court granting bail to him. Cancelling the bail, the apex court directed the Allahabad High Court to decide on the appealing counsel’s bail plea.
Accordingly, a bench headed by Justice Krishna Pahal heard Mishra’s bail plea afresh and reserved the order on July 15 after completing the hearing and set the date for its verdict for Tuesday (today). Meanwhile, prior to Ashish’s plea rejection, the court rejected the bail pleas of co-accused Lavkush, Ankit Das, Sumit Jaiswal, and Shishupal.
In its statement, the HC observed that the four accused were actively involved in the planning and plotting of the inhuman crime and thus they do not deserve bail. “The four co-accused and the main accused Ashish Mishra, belong to a very influential political family and the apprehension of the prosecution that they would interfere with the court of justice, tamper with the evidence, and could influence the witnesses cannot be ruled out.” the bench further observed.
Four farmers and a journalist were killed in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri in October last year during a protest against the now-repealed farm laws. Ashish Mishra was allegedly sitting in one of the cars that crushed the farmers and the journalist to death. Soon after, violence broke out in the area resulting in the death of two BJP workers and a driver.
The counsel for Ashish Mishra had claimed that he was not present at the site of the violence with 197 affidavits backing their claims before the High court, PTI reported.