Court junks discharge pleas, Ajay Mishra Teni’s son to face trial in Lakhimpur Kheri violence case

BAREILLY: All the accused in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, including Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s son Ashish and others, will now face trial as the sessions court rejected their discharge applications on Monday. It will frame charges on Tuesday.

On October 3, 2021, a convoy of three SUVs, including one owned by Teni, allegedly ran over a group of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri. Four farmers and a journalist were killed and several others were injured. In the violence that followed, two BJP workers and a driver were killed.

On January 3, a special investigation team filed a 5,000-page chargesheet in the court of chief judicial magistrate against the 14 accused, including Ashish and his father’s brother-in-law Virendra Shukla. Three BJP workers who were allegedly lynched by farmers in retaliation were also named as accused. Except for Shukla, chargesheet against the remaining 13 was filed under IPC. Different sections of the Arms Act were also invoked against them. District government counsel Arvind Tripathi told TOI, “On November 25, the SC directed the Lakhimpur Kheri’s trial court to fix the matter for framing of charges within a week from November 29. All 13 accused had filed discharge applications, and on the directions of SC, additional sessions judge Sunil Kumar Verma rejected all the applications and ordered framing of charges on Tuesday. ”