CJM Court Accepts SIT's Plea for Additional Charges in Lakhimpur Case

The incident was a pre-planned conspiracy, and was not merely an act of negligence, noted the IO in the application.

Ashish Misra, the son of Union Minister Ajay Teni Misra and the 'main accused' in the Lakhimpur case. Image used for representational purposes. 

(Photo: The Quint)

Video Producer: Shohini Bose
Video Editor: Purnendu Pritam

A CJM Court on Tuesday, 14 December, accepted the Special Investigation Team (SIT)'s plea and ordered the addition of fresh IPC sections after the probe revealed that incident involving the murder of four farmers and a journalist in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri was "premeditated".

Confirming the same, Prosecution lawyer Pradeep Kumar said:

"The investigation officer moved a plea for changes in the remand. The Court has removed IPC sections 279, 338, 304 A and fresh sections of 307, 326 and 3/25, 30, 35 under arms acts have been added. Their crime was established during the probe for which more charges have been added."

The SIT's Plea

The SIT of the Uttar Pradesh Police, which had been probing the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, on Monday moved an application in the court to invoke more criminal charges against the accused, including that of attempt to murder.

The incident was a pre-planned conspiracy, and was not merely an act of negligence, noted investigation officer Vidhyaram Diwakar, in the application submitted in the court on Monday.

Eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri in October, after being run over by a convoy of cars. Ashish Misra, the son of Union Minister Ajay Teni Misra, who owned one of the cars involved in the incident, was arrested under murder charges.

The investigating officer in the case has requested the addition of Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 307 (attempt to murder), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) among others.

The SIT has also sought to invoke the Arms Act against the 13 accused, including Misra.

It has requested the dropping of charges under sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way), 338 (whoever causes grievous hurt to any person by doing any act so rashly or negligently). and 304A (causing death by negligence).

Twelve men, in addition to Misra, had been arrested in the case. The accused, who remain lodged in the district jail, are Luvkush, Sumit Jaiswal, Ashish Pandey, Satyam Tripathi, Shekhar Bharti, Ankit Das, Latif, Sishupal, Nandan Singh, Rinku Rana, Ullas Trivedi, and Dharmendra Banjara.

'Modi Ji, Remove the Accused's Father From Minister's Post': Rahul Gandhi

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, reacting to the development, said in a tweet:

"Modi ji, it's time to apologise again... But first remove the accused's father from the post of the minister. The truth is out!"