West Bengal government on Tuesday told the Calcutta High Court that the search at student leader Anish Khan’s home was illegal. State’s Advocate General S.N. Mookherjee told Justice Rajasekhar Mantha, who is hearing a petition demanding a probe by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the mysterious death of the student leader said that the police raid was “unauthorised” and they should be punished for it.
During the proceedings in the Court, Justice Mantha asked what was the ground for bringing charges under Section 304(A) – causing death by negligence and not under Section 302 – attempt to murder. The Advocate General said “It was to apprehend Anish, but they [the policemen] did not know the reason behind the raid.”
28-year-old Anish Khan died in the early hours of February 19, soon after a group of police personnel barged into his house at Amta in State’s Howrah district. While Salem Khan, father of Anish Khan, has been claiming that the police personnel threw him off the second floor, according to the version of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the State government, it was an accident as Anish tried to flee after seeing the police.
The Advocate General also added that Anish’s father has given three different statements to the investigators. Mr. Mookherjee also maintained that the father is not an eyewitness, he only heard a thud. ”Now this is important that in an open house if there was a scuffle there will be sounds heard. No one said a single thing of noise,” the Advocate General said.
The family of Anish Khan had opposed the probe by the SIT and rejected its findings. Senior Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who is representing the family, had submitted that the circumstances under which the death of the victim is considered non-homicidal is extremely suspicious and ridiculous. The matter will come up for hearing on June 7.
Salem Khan, father of the student leader, continued to insist of a probe by CBI into his son’s death. He said that it was the police who came to his house, his son died minutes later and the police cannot be trusted with the investigation. Mr. Khan also said that he will not undergo any polygraph test as he is not an accused in the case.
