Calcutta HC refuses plea for CBI probe in student leader Anis Khan’s death – Hindustan Times

The Calcutta high court on Tuesday turned down a petition demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged murder of student leader Anis Khan at his home in Howrah district on February 19, lawyers associated with the case said.

The single judge bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha said it is satisfied with the probe by the special investigation team (SIT) of the West Bengal police.

On April 19, the SIT submitted an 82-page interim report in a sealed envelope before the bench.

“We are not happy with the SIT’s probe. We will go through the court’s order and decide our next move,” said veteran lawyer and Rajya Sabha member Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya who is representing Anis Khan’s family.

“I will approach a division bench and demand a court-monitored CBI investigation,” Salem Khan, the victim’s father, said on Tuesday afternoon.

Justice Mantha had earlier directed that details of the SIT’s probe report cannot be made public and it is to be shared only with Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya on whose petition the court took suo motu cognizance of the case on February 21, two days after Anis Khan died of a fall from his residence in Amta area of Howrah district.

Salem Khan had alleged that three men, who were dressed like civic police volunteers, and a fourth person, who was wearing a police uniform and carried a rifle, came to his house at 1.10 am on February 19. Anis was thrown off the second floor of his home at Sarda village by the three men who appeared to be civic police volunteers, Khan said.

Twenty-seven-year-old Anis was a former student of Kolkata’s Aliah University. He led many agitations and was popular as a student leader.

Amid state-wide protests, the SIT was formed by chief minister Mamata Banerjee on February 21 with director general of police Manoj Malaviya as its head. The court allowed the SIT to exhume the body for a second post mortem.

On February 23, the SIT arrested home guard Kashinath Bera and civic police volunteer Pritam Bhattacharya who were posted at Amta police station. Both alleged that they were made scapegoats. Debabrata Chakraborty, the officer-in-charge of the police station, was sent on leave for indefinite period after he was questioned by the SIT.

Salem Khan failed to identify Bera and Bhattacharya during a test identification parade saying he did not see the faces of the three men who rushed to the roof on the night of the incident. He said he had only seen the face of the fourth man who was standing with him at the entrance to the house.

Bhattacharya told the single judge bench of Justice Mantha in April that the SIT had made no significant progress in two months. An apparent effort was being made to prove that Anis Khan died by suicide, he told the court. Justice Mantha asked Bhattacharya to file an affidavit citing why he felt that the SIT’s investigation was unsatisfactory.

Sabir Khan, the elder brother of the deceased, said Anis had sought police protection because he feared that he might be attacked. Stating that his brother had no reason to commit suicide, Sabir Khan alleged that the SIT is suppressing facts.

The political row triggered by the student leader’s death has not ended.

Samik Bhattacharya, the chief spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Bengal unit said: “The order of the single bench has to be followed but we hope the truth will emerge.”

Trinamool Congress (TMC) state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said, “We had been saying all along that the SIT should be allowed to work freely. Even the court has expressed confidence in its findings.”