Mysterious death of Anis Khan: Bengal police's suicide theory challenged

Kolkata, April 25 The report of the special investigation team (SIT) of the West Bengal police probing the mysterious death of student leader Anis Khan at Amta in Howrah district on February 19, 2022 has hinted that it was suicide. This theory of the state police has been challenged by the counsel of Anis's father, Salem Khan.

On April 19, the SIT submitted an 82-page progress report on the investigation to the Calcutta High Court bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha, who directed that the report should be made available to the counsels of all the parties concerned in the case.

On Monday, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, the counsel for Anis Khan's father Salem, told the bench of Justice Mantha that although the SIT in its progress report has hinted at suicide as the reason of Anis Khan's death, in his opinion it was a case of pre-planned murder. Bhattacharya alleged that the suicide theory has been floated to obfuscate the reality.

Justice Mantha asked him to file an affidavit within a week citing the exact reasons behind his objections to the findings mentioned in the progress report by the SIT of the state police.

Since the beginning, Salem Khan has maintained that he has no faith in a probe by the special investigation team of the state police, as his son was killed by policemen and civic volunteers in uniform. He has been adamant on a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the matter. He said that, if necessary, he will approach the Supreme Court with his plea for a CBI probe.

A civic volunteer and a home guard have already been arrested in connection with Anis' murder. Both of them are in judicial custody.

However, the family members of the victim have alleged that the arrests were just an eyewash and senior police officers were involved in the crime.