India / Rahul Gandhi-led Cong delegation denied permission to visit UP's Lakhimpur Kheri

New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government has denied permission to a Congress delegation led by Rahul Gandhi to visit Lakhimpur Kheri. The party leaders had planned to meet the family members of four farmers who were among eight killed in Sunday's violence.

This has been done due to the prohibitory orders imposed in the area under Section 144 of the CrPC. The Uttar Pradesh government has also deployed police to stop opposition leaders from travelling to Tikunia, about 70 km away from the district headquarters of Lakhimpur Kheri.

The state government has announced a judicial inquiry under a retired high court judge in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.

Here are the top developments in this big news:

1. Rahul Gandhi will hold a press conference at 10am today at Congress headquarters in New Delhi. The party had sought permission from UP government for Gandhi-led five-member delegation to to visit Lakhimpur Kheri as leaders from Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) were allowed to visit the district on Tuesday.

2. Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Tuesday gave a week’s ultimatum to the Uttar Pradesh government for arresting Teni's son. “We have given a week to the government to arrest the son of the Union MoS (Home). We all will gather here again on the day of ‘bhog’ (a ritual during the 13-day post-death mourning period) and then will discuss and decide the future strategy,” Tikait told media.

3. A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the Lakhimpuri Kheri violence. The petitioners have sought FIR against the ministers involved in the incident.

4. Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Tuesday met Union home minister Amit Shah at his residence and discussed the Lakhimpur Kheri incident. Channi said such barbaric acts would not be tolerated. Besides, he also condemned the manner in which Congress leaders were arrested, who were on their way to meet the victim families. "I also told him that we will not tolerate barbaric killings in Lakhimpur Kheri. This system of arresting our leaders should stop," added Channi.

5. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Tuesday demanded the arrest of Ashish Mishra, son of Ajay Mishra, over the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.

6. Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary has pushed for President's rule in Uttar Pradesh. He said that the entire state machinery under the Yogi Adityanath government is trying to suppress the truth of what happened in Lakhimpur Kheri.

7. A case has been registered against Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and 10 others in Sitapur, where she has been kept under detention at a guest house. Gandhi, aloong with Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, party leader Deependra Hooda and others have been booked under sections 151, 107, 116 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which relate to preventive detention due to apprehension of breach of peace.

8. Rajasthan’s former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot on Tuesday demanded a probe into Lakhimpur Kheri violence by a sitting judge of the Supreme court. “The inquiry should be conducted by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court because people have no trust that the state agencies will get them justice in the matter,” Pilot told media.

9. The Shiv Sena has called for joint action by political parties against the "oppression" of UP government. Sena leader Sanjay Raut met Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday in this regard.

10. A 29-second video of the incident surfaced online which shows a vehicle plough through protesters from behind. This again ratcheted up tensions in Lakhimpur Kheri. Three farmers were cremated on Tuesday but the family of a fourth demanded a second post-mortem examination, which was conducted on Tuesday. The police have said that they will probe the video.