Lakhimpur,UP: Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Dilbag Singh, a witness in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, was allegedly attacked by two unidentified men in the district, police said on Wednesday. The violence had taken place on October 3, 2021, in which eight people, including four farmers and a journalist, died. Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra was arrested in connection with the incident.
The attack took place on Tuesday night when the BKU (Tikait) district president was returning home from Aliganj-Muda road in the Gola kotwal area in his SUV. Mr. Singh, however, sustained no injuries in the attack.
The farmer leader said the shooters punctured a tire of his SUV owing to which he had to stop the vehicle.
“They attempted to open the gates and windows of the SUV. When failed, they fired two shots at the windowpane of the driver’s side,” he added.
He folded the driver’s seat and bent down towards the floor. As the vehicle windows were covered with dark film, the attackers could not decide the BKU leader’s status in the SUV and fled away on their bikes.
Mr. Singh said he had sent his official gunman (provided to him by the district administration) on leave owing to his son’s sudden sickness on the day.
He complained to Gola kotwal police soon after the attack. He added that he had also informed BKU-Tikait spokesperson Rakesh Tikait about the incident.
Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Arun Kumar Singh stated that on the complaint of Dilbag Singh, an FIR under appropriate sections of IPC had been lodged.
He further said forensic teams had been sent to the spot to examine the vehicle and the crime scene and collect evidence. police were investigating the case and efforts were on to identify the attackers, he added.
The ASP added that the BKU-Tikait district president sent his gunman on leave on his own without intimating the senior police authorities.
“If the matter of leave to his gunman had been intimated to us, we would have provided him another gunman as an alternative arrangement,” he added.
Earlier in April, another witness in the case Hardeep Singh had complained saying he was attacked by a group of people claiming the attack was over his role as a witness in the case involving Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni, who is the member of parliament from Lakhimpur.
However, the police countered the complaint saying, they had not found any link to the Lakhimpur Kheri case in which Mr. Mishra is accused of running over farmers with an SUV during a protest march in Lakhimpur Kheri last year.
Eight people died in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3. After four farmers and a journalist were allegedly crushed by the car of the Union Minister’s son, three more, including BJP workers, were killed in violence that broke out later.
Meanwhile, BKU spokesperson Rakesh Tikat was attacked with a mic and was later inked on Monday while attending an event in Bengaluru.
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