“Four persons were arrested on Monday by the Crime Branch of the Lakhimpur Kheri police along with the SWAT team. The SIT investigators and other senior officials are interrogating the accused and further probe is underway,” the UP police said in a statement.

Those held have been identified as Sumit Jaiswal, Shishi Pal, Satya Prakash Tripathi alias Satyam and Nandan Singh Bisht, it added.

Earlier, Six men — Union MoS Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra and his associates Luvkush Pandey, Ashish Pandey, Ankit Das, Shekhar Bharti and Lateef — were arrested in the case.

Ashish Mishra at the Crime Branch office in Lakhimpur. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastava)

The name of Kaushambi resident Satyam Tiwari had came up during interrogation of accused Ankit Das, his driver Shekhar Bharti and security guard Lateef.

“Accused Shekhar Bharti told police that Satyam Tiwari of Kaushambi was driving one of the SUVs on the day of the incident,” a police officer privy to investigation had told the Indian Express.

Eight people, including four farmers, were killed in the October 3 violence during a farmers’ protest in the Tikonia area of the district, with the incident snowballing into a major political controversy.

Earlier today, more than 130 locations across northern India, especially in Punjab and Haryana, were affected due to the ‘rail roko’ protest called by agitating farmers demanding the dismissal and arrest of MoS Ajay Mishra in connection with the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri. The blockades affected the schedules of 50 trains since morning, a Northern Railway spokesman said.

The rail roko call was given by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body for farmers’ unions spearheading the protest against farm laws since last year

In a statement, the SKM said “protests will only be intensified until justice is secured” in the Lakhimpur Kheri case.