On Friday, a court in Lakhimpur Kheri denied bail applications of former Union minister Akhilesh Das’s nephew Ankit Das and his two associates, who are accused in the case of protesting farmers being run over in the district on October 3.
The court had rejected the bail application of prime accused Ashish Mishra, who is the son of Union Minister of State Ajay Mishra on Wednesday.
This rejection came a day before Ankit Das, his driver Shekhar Bharti and security guard Lateef’s three-day police coutody was to end.
Das and Bharti are residents of Lucknow; Lateef comes from Lakhimpur Kheri.
The court of CJM Chinta Ram had remanded Ankit Das to three-day police custody till October 17. The police custody remand of the three accused, including Ankit Das, will end at 10:00 am on Sunday, following which they will be sent to judicial custody.
Ashish Misra was arrested on October 9 by UP Police’s special investigation team (SIT) after 12 hours of questioning. Ashish Misra, along with another accused, Shekhar Bharti, was sent to three days in police custody from Tuesday.
Shekhar Bharti was allegedly present in one of the vehicles which ran over the famers.
It was also alleged that the Toyota Fortuner, seen ramming into farmers in the viral video, belonged to Ankit Das, and he was in the car when the mishap occurred. Ankit Das, who surrendered before the police earlier this week, accepted that he had escaped to Nepal on October 8.
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(With inputs from agencies)
