On Friday, TMC leaders Firhad Hakim and Pulak Roy visited the Amta village in Howrah to meet the family members of the deceased student leader Anish Khan, who was murdered earlier last month. The locals protested and raised the slogans of ‘Go Back’ as the ministers moved towards the Khan’s house to meet his family on March 25.
According to the reports, the furious villagers surrounded Hakim’s car and stopped him from entering the village. They questioned why was the minister was visiting the village after 42 days of Anish’s murder by the cops. The locals also reiterated their demand for a CBI probe into the case.
Mayor Minister Firhad Hakim denied entry into Amta by protesting locals. Few days ago, one youth leader was k!lled here, the case though subjudice, a resentment has been seen over the progress in its investigation. pic.twitter.com/1Whagih9Pf
— Sudhanidhi Bandyopadhyay (@SudhanidhiB) March 25, 2022
This is a day after the Calcutta High Court ordered a CBI probe into the killings in Birbhum’s Rampurhat. One of the protestors expressed anger that the CBI probe was ordered in Birbhum’s Rampurhat case but not in the death case of Anish. He also mentioned that Hakim had arrived in the village for a religious program and not to meet the family members of Anish.
On February 20, Anish Khan, a student who was staging a protest for around 130 days against the Mamata Banerjee government, was murdered by four unidentified people in Howrah. The incident since then has triggered massive protests by the students against the West Bengal government, who accuse the Mamata Banerjee-led government of killing the protesting student.
As reported earlier, Anish Khan was a student leader of the radical Islamic organization Indian Secular Front. The family of the deceased 28-year-old student had then said that one of the accused was wearing a police uniform and was carrying a firearm, while the others were wearing the uniforms of civic volunteers. The family members also alleged that the victim was thrown off from the second floor. The local police however rejected the allegations claiming that none of the policemen was sent to any such location for any kind of questioning.
Breaking : Anish Khan, who has been staging a 130-day dharna against corruption by Mamta Govt. at Kolkata’s Aliah University, was thrown to death by people wearing Police Uniform.
— Live Adalat (@LiveAdalat) February 20, 2022
His family and supporters are blaming TMC and Mamta Govt for the murder pic.twitter.com/UlccJPL0Le
It is important to note that Firhad Hakim had earlier claimed that there was a possibility of a conspiracy behind the murder. “Such incidents can only be seen in states like Uttar Pradesh. The assailants may have come from outside the state. Police will conduct a thorough investigation and arrest the culprits,” he had said.
However, a few hours before Hakim was sent back, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury met Anish’s father Salem Khan at his residence. Salem reiterated his demand for justice for his son. The father of the deceased had earlier expressed his displeasure with a Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Mamata Banerjee government and had instead demanded an independent inquiry into the case. The Calcutta High Court had, however, ruled out the possibility of a CBI probe and had asked Salem Khan and his family to instead co-operate with the SIT.
Leader of the Indian Secular Front and Islamic cleric Abbas Siddiqui also met Salem on Friday afternoon. While, both Chowdhury and Abbas could meet Salem, the transport minister was significantly stopped from visiting Anish’s home.
