Union Minister confirms SUV that ran over farmers is his but denies son's involvement

New Delhi: Union Minister of State Ajay Mishra has denied his role in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident. In an exclusive interaction with NDTV on Tuesday, Ajay accepted that the Mahindra Thar vehicle seen in the viral video of the incident was his, but said that neither he nor his son was present at the spot when the incident happened.

"From Day One, we have been clear that the [Mahindra] Thar is ours, which is registered in our name. And the vehicle was going to receive someone after picking up our workers. Our son was at another venue. From 11 am till the evening, he was organising another event. My son was present there, there were thousands there. There are photos and videos. If you take out his call records and CDR, location... can check all. Thousands of people are willing to give an affidavit also that Ashish Mishra was there," Ajay Mishra told NDTV in an interview.

Meanwhile, Ajay said he would resign from his post if there was a single piece of evidence of his son Ashish being at the spot where violence broke out in Lakhimpur Kheri.

A day after FIR was filed against Ashish, the minister told ANI on Tuesday that his son is ready to depose before any investigating agency.

The incident took place when a group of protesting farmers in the Tikonia area of Kheri tried to block Mr Mishra and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya from visiting. The protesters were upset over a recent speech by Mr Mishra.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was denied permission to visit Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri on Wednesday, the state government announced, amid its efforts at blocking many opposition leaders, including his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who have made a beeline for the district where eight people were killed in Sunday's violence.