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Demanding a CBI probe, protestors stop Bengal minister from visiting Anis Khan’s home
Anis Khan was killed in the early hours of February 19. A special investigation team (SIT) formed by chief minister Mamata Banerjee on February 21, with director general of police Manoj Malviya as its head, is probing the alleged murder.
Indian Secular Front (ISF) workers on Friday stopped West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim from visiting the residence of student leader Anis Khan when a religious programme was being held in his memory near his home at Sarda village in Bengal’s Howrah district.
The protestors shouted slogans and surrounded Hakim and also demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the death of the twenty-seven-year-old former student of Kolkata’s Aliah University.
Khan was killed in the early hours of February 19. His father, Salem Khan, alleged that three men, who were dressed like civic police volunteers, and a fourth person, who wore a police uniform and carried a rifle, came to his home at 1.10 am on February 19. Anis was thrown off the roof of his home by the three men who appeared to be civic police volunteers, Salem Khan alleged.
Anis Khan was a member of the ISF which was formed in 2021 by cleric Abbasuddin Siddiqui of the famous Furfura Sharif mausoleum in Hooghly district.
A special investigation team (SIT) formed by chief minister Mamata Banerjee on February 21, with director general of police Manoj Malviya as its head, is probing the alleged murder. On February 23, the SIT arrested home guard Kashinath Bera and civic police volunteer Pritam Bhattacharya who were posted at the local Amta police station. They were remanded in judicial custody. Both alleged that they were made scapegoats.
Abbasuddin Siddiqui was present when the agitation took place on Friday. “People do not have faith in the state police. Only a CBI probe can reveal the truth,” he said, echoing Anis Khan’s father.
“I was not aware that any minister was coming to my home. Nobody informed me. I don’t want to meet any minister. I want justice,” said Salem Khan.
Hakim alleged that the agitation was staged by outsiders.
“People of the village were not involved in this. The disturbance was created entirely by outsiders,” Hakim said.
On March 14, the Calcutta high court had directed the SIT complete its investigation within one month. The single judge bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha said the probe should be completed impartially and without delay.
Salem Khan demanded a CBI probe in his prayer before the court saying he has no faith in the state police. On February 24, Justice Mantha rejected the plea for a CBI probe and directed the family to cooperate with the SIT.
In a parallel development on Friday, the family of Tapan Kandu, a Congress leader who won from the Jhalda municipality in Purulia district in the recent polls and was shot dead in public on March 13, moved the Calcutta high court seeking a CBI probe. The murder is being probed by the district police.
The petition will be heard on Monday.
The protests took place hours after the Calcutta high court directed the CBI to take over the probe into the massacre of eight people at Bogtui village in Birbhum district on the night of March 21. The case was being probed by a SIT formed by the chief minister.
