UP: Lakhimpur Kheri Violence Witness Attacked

BKU leader Dilbag Singh, a witness in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, was allegedly attacked by two men in the town, police said on Wednesday.

The attack took place on Tuesday night when the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Tikait) district president was returning home from Aliganj-Muda road in Gola Kotwali area in his SUV when the bike-borne miscreants opened fire on him.

Singh did not suffer any injury.

Singh is one of the witnesses in the Tikunia violence of October 3, 2021 in which eight people, including four farmers and a journalist, had died. Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra was arrested in the case.

Talking to PTI over phone, the BKU leader said the miscreants punctured a tyre of his SUV following which he had to stop the vehicle.

“The assailants tried to open the doors and windows of the SUV. Having failed to do so, they fired two shots at a windowpane,” he said.

Singh said he was driving the SUV and was alone. He said sensing the intentions of the attackers, he folded the driver’s seat and bent down.

As the windows were covered with a dark film, the attackers could not locate him in the SUV and fled the scene.

Singh said he had sent his official gunman on leave following the latter’s son’s illness. He lodged a complaint with Gola kotwali police. He said he had also informed BKU-Tikait spokesperson Rakesh Tikait about the incident.

Meanwhile, Additional Superintendent of Police Arun Kumar Singh told PTI that an FIR had been lodged on the complaint of Dilbag Singh.

He said forensic teams had been sent to the spot to examine the vehicle and the crime scene. He said efforts were on to identify the attackers.

The ASP said the BKU-Tikait district president had sent his gunman on leave without intimating the police. “Had we been sounded, we would have provided him another gunman,” he said.