Lakhimpur: Reports confirm firing from 4 weapons on Oct 3, say cops

Farmers at the site had said Ashis was in the Thar and Ankit was in a Fortuner and that both had opened fire as they got out of their vehicles and ran into the fields

Police take a look at the overturned SUV at Lakhimpur Kheri.: PTI File Photo

Piyush Srivastava   |   TT  | Lucknow   |  10.11.21: Uttar Pradesh police sources have said ballistic reports have confirmed firing from four weapons in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3, when four farmers and a journalist were mowed down by a VIP convoy, adding that two of the weapons were owned by Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s son Ashis.

“Two of the weapons, a rifle and a revolver, belong to Ashis Mishra Monu and a repeater gun and a pistol are owned by Ankit Das, an associate of Ashis,” a police source associated with the special investigation team probing the Lakhimpur massacre said on Tuesday on condition of anonymity.

The head of the SIT, Upendra Agrawal, did not receive a phone call made by this newspaper to seek his response. However, responding to a WhatsApp question asking if the ballistic reports of the weapons of Ashis and Ankit confirmed firing on October 3, Agrawal wrote back: “No comment.”

convoy led by a Thar jeep owned by Teni, the Union minister of state for home, had hit from behind farmers returning from a protest and ploughed through them. Four farmers and a journalist were crushed to death. Teni’s driver and two BJP workers in the convoy were lynched in retaliatory violence.

Farmers at the site had said Ashis was in the Thar and Ankit was in a Fortuner behind him and that both had opened fire as they got out of their vehicles and ran into the fields. Ashis denies he was at the spot.

“Ankit had said in his statement before the SIT that he and his security guard Mohammad Latif had fired from the repeater gun and the pistol. Ashis said he was not at the spot and there was no question of firing from his weapons,” a police source in Lucknow said.