Amidst the violence that took place in the Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh, journalist Vinod Kapri shared a cropped image on Twitter to insinuate that the son of a BJP leader was driving the car that ran over farmers.
In a tweet on Monday (October 4), Kapri claimed, “These are yesterday’s clothes. Can we identify the killer with his clothes? #LakhimpurMassacre.” He had shared two images alongside his tweet, one of the alleged driver and the other of the BJP leader’s son. However, he deliberately cropped the bottom part of the latter picture to give a false impression that he was wearing a full-sleeved shirt.
Popular Twitter user Befitting Facts pointed out that Kapri had cropped the image, which was originally posted by ANI. While it appeared that the driver and the BJP leader’s son were wearing the same clothes, a closer look at the two images clearly disproved that. The driver of the vehicle had worn a full-sleeved shirt while the latter was seen in half-sleeves.
His plan to give clean chit to farmer protestors, who attacked BJP workers and killed 8 people, had failed. Vinod Kapri quickly deleted his tweet without any apology or clarification. However, by the time the misleading tweet was deleted, it had 4.2K likes and was retweeted 1.49K times.
Vinod Kapri is not new to peddling fake news. In April last year, he had falsely claimed that the Agra district hospital had asked doctors to wear polythene bags on their faces (to protect themselves from Covid-19) due to an alleged shortage of protective gear.
Kapri brazens it out
After the obvious differences were pointed out, Kapri deleted his tweet.
Only to share another tweet making similar claims, this time with more images as ‘evidence’.
IT cell के पालतुओं ,
— Vinod Kapri (@vinodkapri) October 5, 2021
ये रहा ट्वीट।
नरसंहार के आरोपी मोदी के मंत्री के बेटे को बचाने के लिए अब कोई नया झूठ लाओ।मुझे “आज तक” से जानकारी मिली है कि आशीष मिश्रा ने इंटरव्यू नरसंहार की रात 9 बजे दिया था। ANI interview रात 2 बजे
कपड़ों से पहचानने में तो तुम लोग उस्ताद हो ही। https://t.co/ToNNsDYCwN pic.twitter.com/N5TtJbkewz
He shared screenshots of news reports and stated that later in the night, the BJP minister’s son had changed his shirt. But even here things don’t add up.
Was Ashish Mishra driving the car that ran over farmers?
Here are some things which are clearly wrong with the assumptions Kapri is making. The car that ‘ran over’ the farmers was attacked by farmers and the windshield broken.
Logic dictates that when the car is attacked by stones, sticks and windshield is broken from the driver’s side enough to get him to lose control, he would himself very likely have some injuries. Secondly, when such a murderous, bloodthirsty mob is waiting with tempers running high, did the mob just let Mishra get away without a scratch? No scuffle? Mishra just miraculously ‘escaped’ from the mob, Kapri wants us to believe.
Ashish Mishra gave multiple statements to multiple media houses that day. Not a single one of them shows him being injured or even a scratch, no blood on his pristine white shirt. His father, MoS A K Mishra on Sunday had said that his son was not even present there when the incident took place.
In fact, even Ashish Mishra had said he was not present when the incident took place and that he was in Banbirpur when the BJP car convoy was attacked.My son wasn't present at spot. There were miscreants who attacked workers with sticks & swords. If my son would've been there, he wouldn't have come out alive. They've killed people&damaged&set cars on fire. We have video evidence:MoS Home Ajay Mishra Teni tells ANI in phone call
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) October 3, 2021
Our 3 vehicles went to receive Dy CM for an event. On their way, some miscreants pelted stones, set cars on fire and killed our 3-4 workers by thrashing them with sticks: Ashish Mishra, son of MoS Home Ajay Mishra Teni on Lakhimpur Kheri incident pic.twitter.com/uo8JpEkEwW
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) October 3, 2021
Multiple video clips have emerged from the incident by now, but not a single one of them shows the images of Ashish Mishra very clearly. Surely there would be a clearer image instead of an extremely blurred image which Kapri claims is that of Ashish Mishra.
Further, one of the persons who was beaten to death by the ‘farmer’ mob was BJP’s Shyam Sunder Nishad. In a disturbing video, one can see he was being threatened by the mob and being made to say that he was sent by the BJP as ‘confession’. Shyam Sundar was also wearing a white full-sleeves shirt.
It is common practice for people to take turns while driving. While one of the persons killed, Hariom Mishra, was driving one of the cars, there is no information yet on whether BJP’s Shyam Sundar wearing white shirt was also driving the car.
For Kapri to conclude that the man in white shirt was Ashish Mishra, from a hazy image where even face is not clearly visible, is nothing short of writing a film script. But even there it seems he has failed.
Violence in Lakhimpur Kheri
On October 3, eight people died after BJP workers were attacked by protesting ‘farmers’ at Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh. As per reports, a large group of alleged farmers had gathered in Lakhimpur Kheri to mark their protest against the three Agriculture laws enacted in September last year. Deputy CM was scheduled to visit Lakhimpur Kheri. The protesters went violent and pelted stones at BJP’s convey.
One of the cars hit the protestors, after which the protestors not only burnt two vehicles but also ambushed the people and reportedly beat the occupants inside the car to death. Disturbing visuals had emerged of the incident that led to several speculations.CM Yogi promised to take strict action against whoever was behind the incident. A heavy police force was deployed in Lakhimpur Kheri to maintain law and order.
A latest video shared on social media shows the vehicle being already damaged when it ran over some of the protestors, indicating that the driver may have been hit by a stone when the vehicle ran over the gathered protestors.
Earlier, a disturbing video footage of the people inside the vehicle being gheraoed, thrashed, and forced to make a confession, had gone viral on social media. In the video clip, a victim was seen bleeding from his head, after being possibly assaulted by the farmers. He admitted that he was sent by MoS Mishra to keep an eye on the situation. However, the frenzied mob of farmer protestors was not convinced by his response.
As per reports, the person in the video is Shyam Sunder, who was eventually lynched to death by the murderous mob. The vehicle’s driver Hariom Mishra was also killed brutally by the so-called ‘farmers’.
They tried to put words into his mouth and said, “You were sent to run over the farmers.” When he refused about being instructed by anyone to kill farmers, the protestors coerced him into accepting that he was a hitman. With folded hands, the victim begged, “Dada, dada, dada” and asked them to spare his life. “We will not beat you,” a ‘farmer’ protestor was heard saying in the background in the hopes of soliciting a false confession. He was subsequently killed by the rioting mob of ‘farmers’.
