New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh police has arrested a Bharatiya Janata Party worker and three more people, in connection with the October 3 violence at Lakhimpur Kheri in which a car connected to a junior Union minister’s son mowed down four protesting farmers.
The total number of arrests in the case is now 10.
Those held have been identified as Sumit Jaiswal, Shishi Pal, Satya Prakash Tripathi alias Satyam and Nandan Singh Bisht, the police said.
It was Sumit Jaiswal on the basis of whose complaint a counter-FIR was lodged at the same police station where the initial FIR was registered on October 3, on the basis of a complaint by farmers.
In the complaint, Jaiswal, a resident of Ayodhyapuri, identified himself as a BJP worker who was on his way to welcome Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya for a wrestling event at Banbirpur, the native village of the union minister, when the violence broke out.
NDTV has reported that Jaiswal was notably seen in a video that was widely shared on social media, escaping from the lead SUV in the convoy of vehicles that drove over the farmers.
UP Police arrests 4 more-Sumit Jaiswal, Shishi Pal, Satya Prakash Tripathi alias Satyam and Nandan Singh Bisht.
Sumit Jaisawal is the one who ran away leaving behind Raman Kashayap groaning when crushed under his Jeep’s tyre.#MSP_कानून_लागू_करो pic.twitter.com/sYwzCoSb7V— Mandy Kaur Bajwa (@BajwaMandy) October 19, 2021
In his complaint, Jaiswal had – contrary to what was seen in video footage – claimed that farmer protesters attacked Ashish Mishra’s convoy, not the other way round, and also that the car was not moving, and it was protesters that attacked the convoy.
Investigators of the Special Investigation Team and other senior officials are interrogating the accused and further probe is underway, the UP police said in a statement late on Monday.
Minister of State for home, Ajay Mishra’s son, Ashish, along with Ankit Das, Shekhar Bharti and Latif were also sent into judicial custody from police custody on Monday, October 18.
Others arrested in the case include Ashish Pandey and Lavkush Rana.
In the aftermath of the car mowing down the four farmers, clashes erupted in Tikonia village of Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, leading to the deaths of four more people, one of them a journalist.
An FIR lodged at the Tikonia police station on October 3 mentions a total of 15 to 20 unnamed persons.
(With PTI inputs)