Act of mowing down farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri a well-planned conspiracy by minister and his son: UP Police FIR

The Uttar Pradesh (UP) Police has lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra for murder in connection with Lakhimpur Kheri violence in which Mishra in his four-wheeler had allegedly mowed down 8 people including farmers who were protesting against the three contentious farm laws.

The FIR has been lodged for offences under Sections 302 (murder), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 279 (rash driving), 338 (grievous hurt), 304-A (death by negligence), 147 (rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Bar & Bench reported.

Besides Mishra, the FIR also lists 15-20 unnamed persons as accused.

In the report it has been alleged that Mishra, along with some other unnamed persons rammed his vehicle into the protesters and around eight people were killed.

Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra, had drove into the gathering of protesting farmers, gun blazing, in which one farmer died, read the FIR, which was released this evening by the Uttar Pradesh police. "The act (mowing down the farmers) was a well-planned conspiracy by minister and his son," the FIR read.

Ashish Mishra, who has been accused of murder and negligence in the FIR, is yet to be arrested. The police have attributed the delay to their being preoccupied with multiple issues including "negotiations with farmers, postmortems and cremations".

The FIR, based on a complaint by farmers, said they were holding a peaceful black flag protest on Sunday, hoping to block the visit of the Union Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya to the area.

"The incident took place around 3 pm, when Ashish Mishra with his three vehicles along with 15-20 men with weapons moved towards Banwaripur meeting place... Ashish, sitting on the left side of his Thar Mahindra fired at the crowd. The vehicle mowed into the people... Due to the firing, farmer Sukhvinder Singh's 22-year-old Son Gurvinder died," read the FIR.