Ajay Kumar Mishra

Ajay Mishra Teni (born 25 September 1960) is an Indian politician, strongman and former Member of Parliament in the 17th Lok Sabha. He is the former Minister of State in Ministry of Home affairs, Government of India. He represents the Kheri constituency of Uttar Pradesh and is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party political party.

Early life and education Mishra was born in Banveerpur village in Lakhimpur Kheri district to a Brahmin family of immense local influence. His father and grandfather allegedly were part of the land mafia and involved in illegal felling of trees.

Criminal cases 1990s In the year 1990, a criminal case was registered against Mishra under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace).

Prabhat Gupta murder case In 2000, in the Tikonia area of Lakhimpur Kheri district, 23-year-old Prabhat Gupta was shot dead. Mishra was named in the FIR of the case.

Mishra was acquitted in 2004. The victim's family have filed an appeal against the acquittal in the Allahabad High Court. The appeal case is ongoing. This case that included a serious charge of murder under IPC section 302, was disclosed by Mishra in his election affidavit submitted to the Election commission before the 2014 Lok Sabha election. On 3 October, BJP leaders Teni and Keshav Prasad Maurya had planned to attend an event in the area. Three members of the Minister’s convoy were killed in the mob lynching by the protesting farmers following the car-ramming incident. Eight people died and more than ten were injured. Ajay Kumar Mishra's son, Ashish Mishra, denied the charge and tried to evade police questioning. The Indian Supreme court expressed its displeasure against the lack of action against the accused in the case. After this, he was interrogated, and arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police on 9 October 2021.

On 15 December 2021, on being questioned about his son's involvement in the incident and new charges being recommended against his son, Ajay Mishra hurled abuses at reporters and reportedly lunged at a journalist. He further demanded that they stop filming and recording him.

Call to removal from Home ministry post On 26 November 2021 the Delhi Legislative Assembly passed a resolution demanding the sacking of MoS Ajay Misra from his post of Minister of State.

Several opposition leaders and farmer groups have questioned why Teni has not been removed from his post and asked PM Modi to sack Teni; while others have also demanded his arrest. Modi has not responded to these calls. On 8 November, a lawyer through his submission, informed the Supreme court that the accused of Lakhimpur Kheri incident were "at large roaming scot-free" as they "wielded the thunderbolt of police power through political clout."