This Article is From Oct 07, 2021

New Video Shows Minister's SUV Ram Unarmed Farmers At Great Speed

The video appears to contest claims by minister Ajay Mishra and his son that their Mahindra Thar was under attack before it ran down farmers.

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India News
New Delhi:

A cleaner, longer clip of the viral video from Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri that reveals what happened on Sunday before the violent clashes shows a black SUV - which a union minister has confirmed to be his family's - ploughing into an unarmed group of protesters at great speed.

The video appears to contest claims by the minister Ajay Mishra and his son that their Mahindra Thar was under attack - it shows no stones or sticks being thrown at the car - and that the driver lost control resulting in the death of at least four farmers and injuries to many more.

In this video, the driver seems to holding on to the steering wheel firmly and driving at great speed into a group of farmers marching in front of the SUV, with their backs to it.

NDTV cannot verify the authenticity of the video or the sequence of events that led to it. According to witnesses, it was after this incident, that an enraged mob attacked the cars, set them on fire and four people in the convoy were beaten to death.

A lower resolution, slowed-down version of the same video was earlier shared by a series of opposition leaders as proof that the blame for the Sunday's clashes - that left eight people dead in all and many injured - lay on the convoy of minister's aides and BJP workers.

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The farmers had gathered for a demonstration in the Uttar Pradesh district, where the junior home affairs minister Ajay Mishra and the state's deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya had been due to visit.

Farmer groups have claimed that Mr Mishra's son had been in a car in the minister's convoy, or was driving it, when the vehicle ran over four protesters, killing them. He has denied this charge.

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The incident marked a deadly escalation of the farmers' year-long campaign against controversial agriculture laws.

The new video emerged on a day when the Supreme Court announced it was taking up the case as media reports and a letter from two lawyers to Chief Justice NV Ramana cast doubts on the Uttar Pradesh police's investigation into the incident.

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Four days after a murder case was filed against him, the minister's son Ashish Mishra was yet to be arrested and government sources ruled out the minister Ajay Mishra resignation following a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

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