Samajwadi Party worker alleges attack by Karni Sena in Varanasi

A (SP) worker has alleged that he was attacked by members outside his house in Varanasi, police said on Sunday, 13 April.

Samajwadi Party worker Harish Mishra has alleged that he was standing outside his house on Saturday afternoon when he was suddenly attacked with a knife.

Hearing the noise, the locals reached the spot and saved him from the miscreants. They also caught the two assailants and beat them up.

"I have no connection with any political party or Karni Sena. I am a priest of Maa Karni. Harish Mishra had given a false statement against Maa Karni a few days ago," said Avinash Mishra, one of the two accused caught from the spot.

"I had just gone with one of my companions to ask him why he did this. Upon which he and his companions attacked us," he added.

Additional deputy commissioner of police Saravanan T. said an incident of fighting took place between two groups in Sigra police station area on Saturday.

The senior police official said that three people have been detained from the spot in connection with this case.

A case has been registered on the basis of the complaint received from both the parties and no one is related to Karni Sena, he added.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in a post on X shared a picture of Mishra wearing blood-soaked clothes.

समाजवादी पार्टी के जुझारू और प्रखर वक्ता व ‘बनारस वाले मिश्रा जी’ के नाम से लोकप्रिय हरीश मिश्रा पर चाकू से किया गया क़ातिलाना हमला बेहद निंदनीय है। उनके रक्तरंजित वस्त्र उप्र में ध्वस्त हो चुकी क़ानून-व्यवस्था की निशानी है। सपा का हर कार्यकर्ता ऐसे हमलों को झेलने की शक्ति रखता… pic.twitter.com/E8XCX7BtQg

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) April 12, 2025

"The murderous knife attack on Harish Mishra, a fierce and aggressive speaker of the Samajwadi Party, popularly known as 'Banaras wale Mishra ji', is highly condemnable. His blood-stained clothes are a symbol of the collapse of law and order in UP. Every SP worker has the strength to withstand such attacks," Yadav said in his post on Saturday evening.

"Let us see whether there is any movement in the inactive body of the so-called government of after this incident or not," he added.