Anis Khan murder: WB govt suspends two cops, one Home Guard

Kolkata, Feb 22 The West Bengal government on Tuesday suspended two policemen and a Home Guard for alleged dereliction of duty in connection with the sensitive murder case of student leader Anis Khan, who was killed right in front of his home at Amta in Howrah district on February 18.

The three suspended persons are ASI Nirmal Das and Constable Jitendra Hembram of Amta police station, and Home Guard Krishnanath Bera.

The suspension came just a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee formed a three-member Special Investigation Team to probe the death of the student leader.

Banerjee has set a 15-day deadline for the SIT to submit its report.

The SIT headed by ADG (CID) Gyanwant Singh has started questioning the officer-in-charge of Amta police station, Debabrata Chakraborty, and second officer Pritam Bhowmik in connection with the murder case.

They have been asked to clarify why the police was late in reaching the murder spot and why the basic formalities of the investigation were ignored.

They have also been questioned on their alleged misbehaviour with the family members of the deceased.

There are also indications that the SIT might question the SP of Howrah district (Rural), Soumya Roy, who claimed that Khan had a POSCO case registered against him and the police were looking into the possibilities whether that had any connection with his murder.

The investigation team, surprised at the sudden revelation of Roy who also happens to be the husband of Trinamool Congress MLA Lovely Moitra, might question him on this point.

Anis Khan, a former Aliah University student, was allegedly thrown off the terrace of his residence in the dark of night by the assailants, who visited his home identifying themselves as personnel from the Amta police station, as testified by his father who was held at a gunpoint when the assailants committed the murder.

The father has called for a CBI probe into the incident.

The incident became more complicated when a letter came to the fore wherein Anish had written to the officer-in-charge of the Amta police station that on May 22, 2021, a blood donation camp was organised in his village by the the Jana Swasthya Suraksha Committee under his leadership.

But on the previous day, along with the gram panchayat deputy chief (Upapradhan), local Trinamool leaders such as Malek Khan and his elder son Masood Khan along with their acolytes warned him against organising the camp and threatened him of dire consequences.