India, Oct. 9 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Uttar Pradesh police to depute a senior level officer to probe the complaint of a witness being influenced in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case after the state government confirmed the allegation to be true.

The complaint assumes significance as one of the accused in this case is Ashish Mishra, the son of former Union minister Ajay Mishra, who is currently out on bail since 2023. Mishra is accused of mowing down four farmers at Lakhimpur on October 3, 2021, as they protested the now-scrapped farm laws.

A bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said, "Since the preliminary exercise (of verifying the complaint) was conducted by a deputy superintendent of police (DSP), ei...