Union minister Ajay Mishra seeks transfer of plea in murder case to Allahabad bench

Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni has sought the transfer of an appeal against his acquittal in a 2000 murder case from the Lucknow bench to the Allahabad bench of the high court.

A bench of justices Ramesh Sinha and Renu Agrawal, which was hearing the appeal filed by the State in 2004, was informed by Mishra's lawyer that the application for transfer of the case has been moved before the chief justice.

After considering the matter, the bench fixed the next hearing on September 6.

Mishra, who is the minister of state for home, had faced trial for the murder of a youth, Prabhat Gupta, in Lakhimpur Kheri in 2000 and the court had acquitted him in 2004, after which the State filed the appeal.

Mishra's son Ashish Mishra is the prime accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence that erupted in October last year when farmers were protesting the visit of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to the district. Ajay Mishra is the MP from Kheri Lok Sabha seat.

Four farmers were mowed down by a vehicle after which two BJP workers and a BJP leader's driver were lynched by a mob. A journalist too died.