Farmers Movement Archive

Lakhimpur violence: Minister’s son down with dengue, could not be quizzed

Lucknow/Lakhimpur Kheri: Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra, an accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, was shifted to the district hospital on Sunday after tests on Saturday evening showed that his blood sugar had reached “critical level”. “Some changes” were also seen in his electrocardiogram (ECG) after he was found infected with dengue while in two-day police custody, a senior medical officer said on Sunday. A police official said Ashish Mishra’s illness had interrupted the investigation as the investigators were unable to continue with his cross -examination before seven other accused taken on remand along with him. He said Mishra’s cross-questioning could not be done even on Saturday due to his illness. Ashish Mishra was sent back to the district jail on Saturday evening itself for treatment at its healthcare facility after he was diagnosed with dengue, he said. He said Mishra, his friend Ankit Das, his driver Shekhar Bharti and gunner Latif alias Kaale were taken on two-day custody remand for the second time since Friday evening. He said the investigators, however, cross-examined the other seven accused and the police would seek the custody of Mishra again after his recovery. Another police officer said a panel of senior-most physicians from the district hospital, led by the chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Shailendra Bhatnagar, examined Ashish Mishra in the jail on Sunday morning and referred him to the district hospital for treatment “under observation”. He said Mishra was moved in an ambulance to the Lakhimpur Kheri district hospital and kept in a “safe room” in the emergency OPD ward amid tight security. The CMO said Mishra’s body temperature was normal but his “critical sugar level of 9.1 HbA1c and changes in the ECG required better care and treatment” by experts at the district hospital and that it was not possible in the jail hospital. “At the district hospital, a panel of doctors will attend him under six-hourly observation and subsequent follow-up will be made thereafter,” the CMO said. “Ashish Mishra’s fresh samples have been sent to Lucknow for confirmation,” he said. Ashish Mishra alias Monu is the main accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case in which eight people, including four farmers, a local journalist, a driver and two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers were killed on October 3 after a convoy of vehicles allegedly led by Ashish Mishra rammed into a group of farmers returning from a protest against the three Central farm laws. Four farmers and the local scribe were crushed to death, while one of the drivers in the convoy and the two BJP workers were lynched by angry farmers in retaliation. A total of 13 arrests have been made in the case so far.

Hindustan Times

24-10-2021

Lucknow