Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra ‘Teni’ landed in a fresh controversy on Wednesday as he was caught on camera allegedly hurling abuses and attempting to pounce at a journalist who asked him on additional charges slapped against his son Ashish Mishra, an accused in the killing of four farmers and a journalist in Lakhimpur Kheri in October.
The Minister was giving media bytes to journalists after inaugurating an oxygen plant in a children hospital in Oel when a journalist Naveen Awasthi asked him, “Mantriji, what do you have to say about the new charges added against your son?”
Mr. Ajay Mishra, the MP from Kheri, who had been calmly responding to the questions till then, suddenly lost his cool and asked the reporter to not ask “stupid questions.”
“ Aisa hai, bewakoofi ke sawaal mat kara karo. Dimaag kharab hai kya bey [Look, don’t ask stupid questions. Are you mad or what],” Mr. Ajay Mishra asked the journalist.
The Minister abused the journalist fraternity with an expletive and referred to them as “ chor ” (thieves) and tried to snatch the phone of another reporter. He also asked the reporter to stop recording the conversation and aggressively pointed out that the chargesheet was yet to be filed in the Tikonia case in which his son Ashish, currently lodged in jail, is the main accused.
Another journalist Himanshu Srivastava alleged that BJP workers who were present there snatched his mobile phone and did not return it.
Opposition parties as well as farmer outfits have been demanding that Mr. Ajay Mishra be sacked as Minister after his son was accused of murder.
The Special Investigation Team probing the Lakhimpur Kheri violence of October 3 has described the killing of four farmers and a journalist as a “pre-planned conspiracy.” In an application submitted to the Chief Judicial Magistrate of the district, the SIT asked for dropping the charges of death due to negligence and rash driving and adding the charges of attempt to murder among others.
The court accepted the application and ordered the addition of charges against Ashish and 12 other accused persons.
