Volunteer, home guard arrested over Anis Khan’s death

The SIT had checked the mobile tower locations of all police personnel on duty and then checked their duty roster to zero in on the two accused

Pritam Bhattacharya (left), Kashinath Bera: Telegraph picture

Kinsuk Basu   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |   24.02.22  : The Special Investigation Team on Wednesday arrested a home guard and a civic volunteer of Amta police station in Howrah district in connection with the death of Anis Khan.

The SIT had checked the mobile tower locations of all police personnel on duty at Amta on Friday night when Khan had died and then verified their duty roster to zero in on the two accused.

Director-general of police Manoj Malaviya said civic volunteer Pritam Bhattacharya and home guard Kashinath Bera had been arrested on the basis of “whatever evidence  the SIT had been able to collect so far”.

“The SIT has been given a timeline of 15 days. Within this, we will bring all facts before you…. Justice will be done,” Malaviya said.

Senior officers of the SIT reached out to Khan’s family on Wednesday seeking consent for exhumation of the body for a second post-mortem. 

Khan’s family refused to oblige and stuck to their demand of a CBI probe.

The family members have refrained from handing over Anis’s mobile phone to the SIT despite the officers’ repeated visits to the house and requests.

“The chief minister said two persons were arrested. We will breathe easy the day the judicial proceedings are initiated against them,” Salam said. 

Earlier in the day, one of Anis’s brothers claimed he had received a threat from an unknown caller on his mobile phone. The caller apparently threatened that the father and the son would be killed if the family insisted on a CBI probe. 

“The family of the deceased is obstructing the probe. Maybe there are few political parties that are behind this kind of obstruction which is being unnecessarily caused to the police team,” Malaviya said. “We would appeal to the family to please cooperate with us in unravelling the truth.”