Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra, who is currently in jail in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, has contracted dengue, a senior police official said on Sunday.
Ashish Mishra, who was taken in police remand, was sent back to the district jail on Saturday evening for treatment at its healthcare facility, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Arun Kumar Singh said. Sources told News18 that Ashish Mishra’s condition is currently stable. A member of the family has received permission to stay with him at the facility, the sources added.
News18 had earlier reported that that Ashish Misra was shifted to a government hospital on suspicion of dengue, with his sample has been sent to a laboratory for confirmation of the disease.
“It is not confirmed as to whether he (Misra) is suffering from dengue. His sample was sent for testing on Friday. The picture will be clear once the report comes,” Superintendent of the Lakhimpur Kheri district jail PP Singh had said.
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Four farmers and a local journalist were killed on October 3 when an SUV belonging to Misra ran over a group of farmers returning from a protest against the new farm laws in Lakhimpur’s Tikunia. Two BJP workers and Misra’s driver were killed in the violence that followed.
Thirteen people, including Misra, have so far been arrested in connection with the incident.
Farmers have alleged that Misra was present when the SUV mowed down the farmers, while Misra and his father have denied the claim.
Sources told News18 that the defence team is preparing a timeline to prove that Misra was at his village Banveerpur and not in Tikunia.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) is looking for the reason which forced Ashish’s aides to carry weapons to escort Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. They also claimed that sufficient police arrangements were made for the programme but the aides still carried arms.
“We had asked Ashish about why he and his aides were carrying arms where Deputy CM was the chief guest. He didn’t reply properly to the question and said he was not carrying arms. He accepted that he was well aware about the farmer protests against the Deputy CM. His aides carried weapons while going to escort the chief guest to the venue where the route was witnessing the protest,” a senior official told News18.
Well-placed sources also confirmed that the second case would see few arrests of protesters for killing Ashish’s aides as evidences have been gathered and all accused have been called to join the investigation.
“We have scientific evidences against protesters that they killed Ashish’s aides. Though, we are looking for witnesses for which we have called protesters who are facing charges and were present there. Based on their statement, arrests would be made soon,” the official claimed.
The officials also claimed that the venue was given sufficient security as per the protocol and refuted the allegations levelled by Ajay Misra of not putting barricades.
With inputs from PTI.
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