On Friday, the Uttar Pradesh Police put a second notice outside the Lakhimpur Kheri bungalow of Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra. The latest notice requires Ashish, a suspect in the violence that erupted in the district a week ago and resulted in the deaths of at least eight people, to appear in court at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
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Farmers protesting three centrally enacted farm rules and a local journalist were among the eight people killed in the violence on Sunday. The second notification from the state police came just hours after the Supreme Court voiced its displeasure with the Yogi Adityanath government’s inquiry into the case.
The administration was then required to notify the Supreme Court of an alternative agency to undertake the investigation. The pressure for Mishra’s resignation has been building amid public outrage over the deaths of farmers who were allegedly hit by a convoy of vehicles, one of which belonged to Mishra.
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The opposition has claimed that if Mishra keeps his job, a biased investigation will be conducted. In response to the opposition’s demands, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya stated that the guilty would not be spared.
