CPI(M) youth front, ISF hold protests demanding arrest of Anis Khan’s killers

Anis Khan, 27, a former student of Kolkata’s Aliah University, was allegedly murdered in the early hours of February 19 at his house in Sarda village in the Amta area of Howrah district.

KOLKATA: The student and youth fronts of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), and the Indian Secular Front (ISF) on Tuesday paralysed traffic in large parts of central Kolkata by taking out huge processions demanding arrest of the killers of student leader Anis Khan.

The Left parties and the ISF have been holding protests across Bengal since the alleged murder of Anis Khan. Tuesday’s processions were the biggest that Kolkata witnessed in 10 days. (PTI)

27-year-old Khan, a former student of Kolkata’s Aliah University, was allegedly murdered in the early hours of February 19 at his house in Sarda village in the Amta area of Howrah district. The Left parties and the ISF have been holding protests across Bengal since then.

Tuesday’s processions were the biggest that Kolkata witnessed in 10 days. While the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the CPI(M)’s student and youth fronts respectively, led a few thousand members from Sealdah station to College Street, the ISF, of which Anis was a member, took its procession from Sealdah to Esplanade.

The victim’s father, Salem Khan, alleged that 3 men, who were dressed like civic police volunteers, and a fourth person, who was wearing a police uniform and carrying a rifle, came to his house at 1.10 am on February 19. Anis was thrown off the second-floor by the 3 men who appeared to be civic police volunteers, Salem Khan alleged.

A special investigation team (SIT) was formed by chief minister Mamata Banerjee on February 21 with director general of police (DGP) Manoj Malviya as its head. A home guard and a civic police volunteer were arrested two days later but Salem Khan failed to identify them.

ISF legislator Nausad Siddiqui, who led Tuesday’s procession, said: “Till now we have protested peacefully. If the real culprits are not arrested, we will start law violation programmes and court arrest.”

SFI national general secretary Mayukh Biswas said, “Our protests will continue till justice is delivered. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) government cannot shield the culprits.”

The SIT on Monday exhumed Anis Khan’s body for a second post mortem that the Calcutta high court ordered on February 24, following a demand for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe by CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member and lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who filed a suo motu petition. The court asked the SIT to conduct the probe expeditiously.

On Tuesday, a Howrah court rejected the bail prayer of DYFI’s Bengal unit secretary Minakshi Mukherjee and 15 other Left workers who were arrested on February 26 following a violent protest in which stones were pelted at the police in the Panchla area of Howrah. A police constable has been admitted in hospital with head injury, police officials said.

Mukherjee and the others were remanded in judicial custody till March 4. They have been charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Reacting to the court order, CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said: “The Left Front government never sent Mamata Banerjee to jail although, as an Opposition leader, she led many violent protests and disrupted peace before coming to power. The TMC wants to silence the Opposition today because it is scared. Our movement will not stop.”

TMC leaders did not make any comment on the two processions in Kolkata.

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 Amta police station, was sent on leave for an indefinite period after he was questioned twice by the SIT.

Salem Khan failed to identify Bera and Bhattacharya last week saying he did not see the faces of the 3 men who rushed to the roof on the night of the incident.

“I can only identify the fourth man who was standing with me at the entrance. He was wearing the police uniform and carried a rifle. But this man was not arrested,” Khan said after the test identification parade at Uluberia correctional home, where the arrested men are being held.

On Monday, Khan said he wants a CBI probe though he agreed to let the SIT probe his son’s death because of the high court order.