The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Thursday granted bail to Lakhimpur Kheri violence case accused Ashish Mishra alias Monu, the son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni.
A single-judge bench of Justice Rajeev Singh had reserved its order on January 18 after arguments.
Ashish Mishra’s counsel argued that he was not driving the SUV which allegedly mowed down farmers/protesters. There appears to be no evidence on record that can prove that the driver of the car had driven into the crowd of farmers on the orders of Mishra, he added.
Ashish Mishra is the main accused in the case of the death of eight people, including four farmers, in the violence following the SUV running over protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri district on October 3.
The farmers had been staging a protest over Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit to the area. In retaliatory action, farmers had allegedly lynched three BJP workers.
Mishra was arrested on October 9. He had moved the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court after his bail plea was rejected by the lower court.
The Lakhimpur Kheri district and sessions court on November 15 rejected the bail pleas of Ashish Mishra, Luv Kush Rana and Ashish Pandey in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case.
Sessions Court Judge Mukesh Mishra stated in the order that the investigation is still on in the mowing down of farmers by a vehicle and so the court did not find any genuine reason to release the key accused on bail.
The prosecution presented the case diary, 60 eyewitnesses’ statements, and ballistic reports of four firearms to establish their involvement in the crime.
Earlier in November 2021 , the Supreme Court had expressed disappointment over the way the probe was proceeding in the case and said that it would appoint a retired judge from a different high court to monitor the investigation till a chargesheet is filed.
The Uttar Pradesh government has constituted a one-member judicial commission to probe the Lakhimpur Kheri incident. Pradeep Kumar Srivastava, a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court, will investigate the matter.
On January 3, the Uttar Pradesh Police had filed a 5,000-page charge sheet in the Lakhimpur Kheri Violence case before a local court in Lakhimpur naming Ashish Mishra as the prime accused.