Farmer killed in Lakhimpur violence cremated after second autopsy as demanded by his family

Bahraich (UP), Oct 6: Gurvinder Singh, alias Gyaniji, one of the four farmers killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, was cremated on Wednesday morning after a second autopsy was conducted on him as demanded by his family, police said.

Family members of the 22-year-old, from Moharia village of Bahraich, had earlier refused to cremate him, claiming that he was shot dead but the post-mortem report had no mention of it. They received support from farmer leader Rakesh Tikait and Punjabi singer Sonia Maan.

With the Uttar Pradesh government agreeing to the demand, a second post-mortem examination was conducted on Tuesday night by a team of experts from Lucknow, Superintendent of Police (SP) Sujata Singh said. Hours after this, Gurvinder Singh was cremated by his family members in his village in the presence of Tikait, ADG (Gorakhpur) Akhil Kumar and senior police and administration officials, Additional Superintendent of Police (Rural) Ashok Kumar said. A post-mortem report will be prepared under the supervision of the experts who conducted the exam, SP Singh added.

District Magistrate Dinesh Chandra Singh said the family members of Gurvinder Singh had raised objections on the post-mortem examination done earlier. "With the permission of the state government, it was done again and videographed as well," he added.

The mortal remains of the three other dead farmers were cremated at their native places on Tuesday. The UP government is facing a massive flak after eight people were killed in violence during a protest against the farm laws in Lakhimpur on Sunday. Four of the dead were farmers who were allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers.

The four others included two BJP workers, a driver of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra, and Raman Kashyap, a journalist working for a private TV channel.

While the first three were lynched by agitating farmers, the scribe, according to his father, died after being hit by a vehicle when he was covering news of farmers' protest against the visit of UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to Ajay Mishra's native place. The UP Police has lodged a case against Union minister Ajay Mishra's son but no arrest has been made.