Kolkata: A West Bengal government-appointed special investigation team (SIT) on Tuesday submitted a report to the Calcutta high court informing it of the steps taken in its probe into the alleged murder of student leader Anis Khan.
Advocate general S.N. Mookherjee submitted the 82-page report on the progress of the investigation to the court of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha, as directed by him earlier.
“It… also appears to this court that the investigation is nearing conclusion,” Justice Mantha said.
While directing that a copy of the report be made available to senior counsel Bikash Bhattacharya, who appeared for the petitioner Salem Khan, the father of the deceased, the court made it clear that confidentiality of the report must be maintained.
Khan had moved the high court seeking an order for an investigation into the death by an impartial agency that is not connected with the West Bengal police.
The hearing in the matter was adjourned by the court till April 25 on a prayer by Bhattacharya.
The court had on March 14 said that it expects the investigation will be completed by April 18 when the matter will be heard again.
Justice Mantha had said that an extension of time to complete the probe will not be considered except for reasons beyond the control of the investigating agency.
Since Justice Mantha did not preside on Monday, the SIT report was submitted on Tuesday.
At the beginning of the hearing on Tuesday, taking note of certain disparaging remarks made by the petitioner, which are doing the rounds on social media, Justice Mantha expressed a desire to release the matter from his court.
He was, however, persuaded by lawyers appearing for all the parties in the matter to continue hearing the case.
The court directed petitioner Khan to submit an apology for the remarks in an affidavit on the next date of hearing.
Salem Khan has alleged that his son was murdered by men wearing khaki and civic volunteer uniform on February 19.
The SIT had arrested a home guard and a civic volunteer in connection with the death of Khan and they are in judicial custody now.
Justice Mantha, taking up a petition by the deceased’s father, along with a suo motu petition initiated by the court into the death, had on February 24 said it is expected that no stone will be left unturned in the course of the investigation.
Alleging that Khan was murdered, Bhattacharya had claimed before the court that he had been brutally assaulted by four persons, of whom one was in police uniform and the other three in civic volunteer dress, and thrown over from the third floor of his home at Amta in Howrah district on the night of February 19.
Khan’s family members have been demanding a CBI investigation into his death.
Claiming that the killing of Anis Khan, a social activist, was a “premeditated murder”, Bhattacharya had prayed before the court that an independent investigation be ordered into it.
The state government had formed the SIT headed by additional director general (CID) Gyanwant Singh to hold the probe.
Source: https://thewire.in/law/anis-khan-death-case-sit-submits-probe-progress-report-to-calcutta-hc
