Lakhimpur Kheri Case : Supreme Court Asks UP Police To Enquire If Ashish Mishra Attempted To Influence Witnesses

The Supreme Court on Monday (January 20) asked the Superintendent of Police, Lakhimpur (Uttar Pradesh) to conduct a fact-finding enquiry into the allegations that Ashish Mishra attempted to influence the witnesses in the Lakhimpur-Kheri killings case.

A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh passed the direction while hearing an application filed by the family members of the deceased seeking cancellation of the bail granted to Ashish Mishra alleging that he was trying to influence the witnesses in the case.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan appeared for the applicants. Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for Mishra, refuted the allegations and said that the application was "publicity-oriented". He asserted that on the relevant day, Mishra was at the Lok Sabha secretariat and there cannot be a bigger proof of the allegations being misplaced.

When Dave alleged that the applicants have developed a habit of repeatedly making such allegations against Mishra, Bhushan took the Court through the application seeking cancellation of Mishra's bail where it was stated that the identity of the witnesses sought to be influenced can't be revealed due to fear of reprisal. The counsel further sought time from the Court to file a recording to show that a witness was promised a reward in exchange for his not giving evidence.

At this point, Justice Kant remarked that in such scenario, a parallel enquiry may be required to find out if the person accused of trying to influence is Mishra's associate or planted by someone else. Ultimately, the judge expressed the view that the Police Commissioner/SP can be asked to conduct an enquiry into the allegations.

"In our view, the veracity, genuineness and reliability of such material can be gone into by police administration who will submit a report on the allegations made," the order noted.

The case involves the killing of five persons in October, 2021 in Lakhimpur Kheri, when vehicles of the convoy of Ashish Mishra allegedly ran over a group of farmers who were protesting against the farm laws. The case attracted political controversy as Mishra's father - Ajay Kumar Mishra - was then a Union Minister.

The Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of the incident and criticized the Uttar Pradesh police for its failure to arrest Ashish Mishra. He was later taken into arrest following the Court's criticism. 

The Allahabad High Court granted bail to Mishra on February 10, 2022, but it was set aside by a Supreme Court bench comprising then CJI NV Ramana, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Hima Kohli in April 2022 after noting that the High Court took into account irrelevant considerations and ignored relevant factors. The bail application was then remanded to the High Court. The Supreme Court's order came in an appeal filed by the relatives of the farmers who got killed in the incident.

Case Title: Ashish Mishra Alias Monu v. State of U.P. SLP(Crl) No. 7857/2022

Click Here To Read/Download Order