India / Culprits won't be spared, no post will help them: UP Dy CM on Lakhimpur incident

New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh Police on Friday pasted a second notice outside the residence of Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra in Lakhimpur Kheri as his son, Ashish Mishra, failed to appear before the crime branch of Lakhimpur Kheri police earlier in the day. 

The new notice ordered Ashish, an accused in the violence that rocked the district a week ago leading to the death of at least eight persons, to present himself before the police at 11 am on Saturday.

Among the eight victims of the violence that took place on Sunday were farmers protesting against the three centrally passed farm laws and a local journalist.

The second notice from the state police came hours after the Supreme Court expressed its dissatisfaction with the investigation being conducted by the Yogi Adityanath government in the case. It then ordered the administration to apprise the top court of an alternative agency that can conduct the probe.

Amid nationwide uproar over the deaths of farmers, who were allegedly knocked down by a convoy of vehicles one of which belonged to Mishra, the call for the junior home minister’s resignation has been growing with the opposition claiming a biased probe if Mishra continued to hold on to his post.

Reacting to the opposition’s demands, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said the guilty would not be spared. “Deaths at the Lakhimpur Kheri incident are unfortunate and investigation is underway on it. Guilty will not be spared. We want to assure people of the state that at no cost culprits will be spared and no post or pressure will be of use for accused,” Maurya was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.