Lakhimpur Kheri: Journo Raman Kashyap Among Those Dead; Kin Accuse BJP Min's Son

Raman Kashyap, who worked for a local news channel, was sent for the coverage of the events unfolding in the area.

Raman Kashyap, who worked for a local news channel, was sent to cover the events unfolding in the Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)

Journalist Raman Kashyap succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, 3 September, taking the death toll in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence to nine, IANS reported. Four of them were farmers and the other four were Bharatiya Janata Party workers.

Kashyap's kin have accused son of union minister for state for home affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra, Ashish Mishra and his associated for 'murder'. According to Times of India, besides the FIRs lodged on Monday, the family filed another complaint in the matter.

The complaint stated,

"Eyewitnesses said he ended up shooting the footage of a car that was mowing down farmers, which was why my journalist son was shot at."

Adding that "MP's son Ashish Mishra and party workers killed my son," the complaint also claimed that the footage also included a recording of the gunshots, Times of India reported.

Kashyap, who worked for a local news channel, Sadhna Prime News, was sent to cover the events unfolding in the Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh.

However, Kashyap went missing on Sunday and his body was found in the mortuary on Monday. Reports said that he was injured during the violence and later died during the treatment at a local hospital.

Locals reportedly said that Kashyap's body was identified by family members when he was being taken for post-mortem, but an official confirmation is awaited.

Conflicting Reports on Kashyap's Death

Conflicting statements have emerged on how Kashyap died on Sunday.

The editor of the channel where Kashyap worked said some hooligans had beaten the reporter, following which he died, reported The Telegraph.

An eyewitness, in a statement to a reporter for Gaon Savera, said that Kashyap, deployed for coverage where the deputy chief minister was scheduled to arrive, was run over by cars which were travelling at high speed.

"He was then taken to Lakhimpur Kheri... he was missing until this went viral on social media and later it was confirmed that he is Raman Kashyap, the journalist who had died," the eyewitness told Mandeep Punia, a reporter.

Speaking to news outlet The Lallantop, Kashyap's father Ram Dulari said he had been informed about his son's death at 3 am on Monday, after which he rushed to Lakhimpur. Kashyap's father and brother both claimed that the scribe had been shot in the arm, apart from being run over by a car which also mowed down four others.

Journalists' Association Demands Compensation for Kin

According to Newslaundry, the Lucknow Journalists' Association has requested Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Chief Secretary to offer Rs 1 crore compensation to Kashyap's family as well as a government job to one of the family members.

The association has also reportedly demanded a judicial inquiry of the incident and the booking of the accused for murder.

Dulari told NDTV that Raman has two children, a boy and a girl.

"We should be given Rs 50 lakh compensation and my daughter-in-law should be given a government job," he reportedly said.

"The ninth death in yesterday's horrific incident is of a local journalist Raman Kashyap. Maybe, just maybe, media would be a little fair while reporting the incident which took one of their own?", journalist Abhishek Baxi tweeted.

(With inputs from The Times of India, NDTV, IANS, The Telegraph, Newslaundry and Evening News.)