We trust CM, not police, says Anis Khan’s elder brother

He was found dead past Friday midnight and his father Salam had accused policemen of throwing off the youth from the roof, which cops denied

A rally organised by the Students Against Fascism in Calcutta on Monday for a fair probe into the death of Anis Khan.: Arkamoy Datta Majumdar

Arkamoy Datta Majumdar   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |   22.02.22  :  The family of deceased student leader Anis Khan on Monday again  their demand for a CBI probe into his alleged murder even as Mamata Banerjee tried to assuage their concerns by ordering a special investigation team to probe the matter.

Sabir Khan, Anis’s elder brother, said the family had faith in Mamata but not the police.

“We trust the chief minister. Let her find out who the culprits are. But we don’t trust the police. The investigation has to be done by the CBI," Sabir told journalists.

The family refused to hand over a mobile phone, which belonged to Anis, to the police.

“We will hand it over to the court or the CBI. The police might tamper with evidence. What if someone had threatened Anis through this phone and the police deleted the evidence?” Sabir said.

Anis's phone was missing since Friday — he was found dead past Friday midnight and his father Salam had accused policemen of throwing off the youth from the roof, which the police denied — and the family had alleged theft. On Monday, it was recovered from the house itself. Later when the police came for the phone, Anis's father, Salam Khan refused to hand it over.

“They (the police) might tamper with the phone and claim that my son was a criminal... I'll hand it over to the court," Salam said.

While the family remained belligerent, Opposition political parties took their protests to the streets of Calcutta second day in a row. Students Against Fascism, a Left-backed students' forum, had called for a civic rally in Calcutta. Several SFI and DYFI members along with Left-leaning members of the civil society participated in the rally from Esplanade to Mahakati Sadan.

Advocate and CPM MP Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, actors Debdut Ghosh, Badshah Moitra and filmmaker Anik Datta participated in the rally besides some students of the Aliah University, where Anis had been a student and student leader.

"The honourable chief minister is saying that Anis was close to her. Even if that's true, why couldn't she provide security to someone close to her. She is trying to suppress the truth by saying all this," Srijan Bhattacharya, SFI state secretary, said from the rally.

Bhattacharya and DYFI leaders Minakshi Mukherjee and Dhrubojyoti Saha along with a few lawyers met the bereaved family again on Monday night.

The students wing of the state Congress also organised a protest at Entally.

SFI's Delhi unit president Sumit Kataria and JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh led a rally demanding justice for Anis in Delhi.

Noushad Siddiqui, the ISF MLA of Bhangar, visited Anis's family on Monday. He questioned what took the chief minister so long to order an SIT to probe the matter.

“Is she trying to protect someone big involved in this case? Who can say? However if they think that they can silence dissent by killing someone they’re wrong,” Siddiqui said. Anis, who cut his political teeth with SFI, was an ISF sympathiser.

The students of Aliah University have called for a rally from Park Circus to the Writer's Building on Tuesday afternoon.

Correction

The headline “DIG asks Howrah police for report”, carried on Monday’s edition, erroneously referred to the director-general of police as DIG. We apologise for the mistake.