The Uttar Pradesh Police on Thursday told the Supreme Court that its investigation had found no evidence linking Ashish Mishra or his father, former Union minister Ajay Mishra, to allegations of witness intimidation in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, Live Law reported.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was hearing Ashish Mishra’s bail plea.

He remains on bail granted by the court, which is monitoring the progress of the trial in the main case.

The bench was informed that the investigation into the first information report alleging witness intimidation had been completed and that no incriminating material had been found against Ashish Mishra, Ajay Mishra or others named in the complaint.

The bench took note of the police status report, which stated that a chargesheet had been filed only against one person, Amandeep Singh and that an appropriate court had taken cognisance of the matter.

Ashish Mishra’s lawyer submitted that his client had not been named in the chargesheet and said the trial would conclude within three months, Bar and Bench reported.

The Supreme Court granted the complainant two weeks to file an additional affidavit in response to the police’s status report.

The case alleging witness intimidation was registered in October after the Supreme Court criticised the Uttar Pradesh Police for failing to act on a complaint by Baljinder Singh.

The case filed at the Paduwa police station, named Ajay Mishra, Ashish Mishra and two other persons.

On June 20, 2025, Singh had filed a written complaint alleging that an unidentified person offered him Rs 1 lakh and threatened him with consequences if he testified in the case, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the complainant, had told the court in August.

The court then questioned the police for failing to look into the witness’ complaint and directed them to verify the allegations.

The main case pertains to the death of eight persons, including four farmers, on October 3, 2021, as violence had broken out after a vehicle belonging to Ashish Mishra, had allegedly run over a group of demonstrators.

The violence had broken out in Lakhimpur Kheri district during a protest against the Centre’s now-repealed agricultural laws.

Ashish Mishra was first arrested in the case on October 9, 2021. He walked out of jail on February 15, 2022, after the Allahabad High Court granted him bail. However, families of those killed in the violence challenged the bail order in the Supreme Court, which overturned the High Court verdict and cancelled the bail in April 2022.

After setting aside the High Court’s bail order, the Supreme Court asked that another bench be assigned to hear his plea. The new bench denied Ashish Mishra bail in July 2022, after which he moved the Supreme Court once again to challenge the order.

In July 2024, Ashish Mishra was granted bail by the Supreme Court but he was only allowed to stay in Delhi or Lucknow. In May, the bail conditions were relaxed to allow him to visit Lakhimpur Kheri every Saturday evening and return to Lucknow on Sunday.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.