The BJP in Uttar Pradesh is now disassociating itself from Ashish Mishra ‘Monu’ after the police increasingly believe that the Union minister’s son was present in the convoy of cars where the incident took place in Lakhimpur Kheri.
The statement of UP BJP chief Swantantra Dev Singh to party cadre on Sunday that “we are not in politics to crush someone under a SUV” is being seen in this light, with other party leaders also saying that the law should take its own course against the minister’s son. This comes amidst Ashish not being able to furnish any electronic evidence to the police to prove that he was at the wrestling venue in his village for an hour around the time of the incident last week. This is also the main reason that led to his arrest.
According to officials close to the investigation, it is crucial to determine where Ashish was for an hour between 2.30 pm and 3.30 pm when the incident in Lakhmipur took place. The answer to this key question has become intriguing with conflicting claims but police now believe he was at the incident spot. Interestingly, no calls were received or made from Ashish’s phone during that said hour. Ashish’s phone is now with the UP police.
The incident spot is about 4-5 km away from Ashish’s village where he claims to be present all day for a wrestling contest. Sources close to the investigation, however, say that Ashish did leave the wrestling venue around 2 pm or so in his Thar vehicle. But Ashish has said at the said time he had gone to his house in the same village a food inspector had turned up to check the food to be consumed by the chief guest deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, according to the security protocol.
Police are checking CCTVs at the wrestling venue and en route the incident spot to cross-check these claims. Ashish has furnished sworn affidavits of about 10 villagers and over a dozen videos in a pen drive to cite his presence in the village throughout but the same is not cutting much ice with the police yet. More so, the main complaint in the counter-FIR against the farmers, BJP worker Sumit Jaiswal, has gone missing. Jaiswal was present in the Thar vehicle that ran over the four farmers.
A senior UP Police official told News18 that a reward may soon be announced for nabbing Jaiswal and the son of a former Congress minister who was said to be present in the Fortuner vehicle that was behind the Thar vehicle. “They will be confronted with Ashish when they are nabbed to establish Ashish’s presence,” the senior UP police official said.
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