Lakhimpur Case: BJP Minister's Son Ashish Mishra Released on Bail

Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister Ajay Teni Mishra and the 'main accused' in the Lakhimpur case. Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo: The Quint)

Union Minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra, the prime accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case of October 2021, was released on bail on Tuesday, 15 February.

He left Lakhimpur district jail from the back gate in an SUV. Shortly afterwards, Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra arrived at the residence of his son Ashish to meet him, reported news agency ANI.

The Allahabad High Court on 10 February had granted bail to Ashish, who has been in jail since 10 October 2021.

Eight people, including four farmers protesting against the Centre's contentious agricultural laws, were killed in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri in October 2021, after being run over by a convoy of cars. Ashish Mishra, whose SUV car was part of the convoy, had been arrested on murder charges.

Justice Rajeev Singh of the Allahabad High Court had last week granted bail to Ashish Mishra, on his furnishing a personal bond and two reliable sureties of Rs 3 lakh each.

"It is evident that as per the FIR, the role of firing was assigned to the applicant (Ashish Mishra) for killing the protesters, but during the course of the investigation, no such firearm injuries were found either on the body of any of the deceased or on the body of any injured person," Justice Singh had said in the bail order.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Uttar Pradesh Police, which has been probing the Lakhimpur Kheri violence from October 2021, had filed a charge sheet in January 2022 against the 14 accused in the case. The charge sheet spans approximately 5,000 pages.

The incident was a pre-planned conspiracy, and was not merely an act of negligence, an SIT report said.