The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the Uttar Pradesh government’s response on the bail plea of Ashis Mishra, son of Union minister Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’, in a case related to the killing of four farmers and a journalist in Lakhimpur Kheri.

A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and M.M. Sundresh issued a notice to the state government to reply by the next hearing on September 26. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Ashis, said the accused was not present at the site of the crime.

The Allahabad High Court had in July refused him bail. An SUV owned by Teni had ploughed into a group of farmers returning from a protest on October 3, 2021, killing four farmers and a journalist, days after the minister publicly warned protesting farmers he would fix them if they did not mend their ways. Ashis is alleged to have been in the SUV.