Oct 10, 2021: Indian police have arrested the son of a junior minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on suspicion of killing nine people during a farmers’ protest against controversial agricultural laws in northern India.

Ashish Mishra was taken into custody on Saturday after a day-long interrogation in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, police officer Apinder Agrawal said.

He is the son of junior Home Minister Ajay Mishra. Farmer leaders alleged that a vehicle belonging to the minister hit a group of protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday, killing four people.

He said the minister’s son was in the car at the time. Ajay Mishra said that his son was not present in the incident but he said that a vehicle driven by “our driver” lost control and hit the farmers when they threw stones at the car and hit it with sticks.

The driver and three members of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were killed by protesters after the incident.

Agrawal, a police officer, said Mishra was arrested after failing to provide any supporting evidence that he was not in the three vehicles that killed four of the farmers’ crowd.

The arrest comes a day after India’s Supreme Court criticized the state government for not arresting Ashish Mishra.

On Friday, the minister’s son waited for hours for questioning before sending a message to police that he was ill and could not recover. Farmers leader Darshan Pal and opposition Indian Congress party leader Akhilesh Singh have demanded the removal of their father from the Modi government.

Earlier this week, police said they had arrested four people so far and had registered a criminal complaint against 14 more people, including Ajay Mishra, in connection with the deaths of four farmers.

The BJP also lodged a criminal complaint against the farmers over the death of its members and car driverArvind Chorasia, a senior official in charge of the district.

Police also said they found the body of a local journalist at the scene where the violence ensued but did not elaborate on how he was killed.

Ongoing protests against agricultural laws that began last year and were at the time largely peaceful have escalated into violence, with farmers saying their livelihoods will be ruined.

Protests have been going on since the government passed the laws last September and have been the biggest challenge for Modi.

Last week, thousands of farmers gathered on the outskirts of the Indian capital, New Delhi, to mark a year of protests. The government says changes to the laws were needed to modernize agriculture and increase production through private investment.

But a majority of Indian farmers say the laws will destroy their income by eliminating guaranteed prices and force them to sell their crops to corporations at cheaper rates.

Stay tuned to BaaghiTV for latest news and Updates!