At least 8 people were killed as violence erupted in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur during a farmers' protest over state Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit, administration sources said.
Three vehicles including two SUVs were set on fire by angry farmers, reports said after they hit a group of protesters. One of the vehicles belongs to Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State for Home, Ajay Mishra Teni. | READ MORE
Several dead in violence
Four of the dead were travelling in the vehicles and the remaining two were farmers, sources said. However, unconfirmed reports said that three farmers had died in the incident. Officials, however, refused to confirm the number of deaths or the number of persons injured in the incident.
The violence broke out after two SUVs allegedly ran over a group of anti-farm law protesters, who were demonstrating against the visit of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya at the Tikonia-Banbirpur road.
Angry protesters allegedly forced the two vehicles to stop and set them on fire. They also allegedly thrashed some passengers.
Earlier in the day, thousands of farmers had marched to Tikuniya on Sunday and staged protests against the Uttar Pradesh government. Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya was scheduled to reach Banvir village to attend a program organized by the Union Minister.
However, farmers occupied the helipad site at Maharaja Agrasen Sports Ground, where his helicopter was to land. Following this, the Deputy Chief Minister's program was changed and he reached Lakhimpur by road from Lucknow.
Angry farmers in Tikunia protested by uprooting the hoardings welcoming him. The farmers came from adjoining villages like Palia, Bhira, Bijua, Khajuria, and Sampurna Nagar with black flags in their hands.
Meanwhile, Bhartiya Kisan Union spokesman Rakesh Tikait said that he is reaching Lakhimpur to meet the injured farmers. A heavy deployment of forces has been made in the area and police from adjoining districts are also being called in to control the situation.
CM Yogi condemns Lakhimpur violence
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityananth says that Lakhimpur incident is unfortunate. The state government will go into depth and expose elements involved in the incident and will take strict action against them.
Officials including ADG law and order, IG Lucknow are present at the site of the incident to keep the situation under control and for further investigation, UP government said.
(With inputs from PTI, IANS)
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