NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed Ashish Mishra, son of former Union minister Ajay Mishra, to respond to allegations of witness intimidation in the case related to the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence that resulted in eight deaths.
A two-judge bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan asked senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for Mishra, to file an affidavit clarifying his stand after he refuted the allegations.
At the outset, a counsel appearing for one of the complainants in the case told the court that he has filed a plea in which he has said that witnesses were threatened by Mishra.
On October 3, 2021, eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Tikunia in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district. The violence erupted when farmers were protesting against Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit to the area.