The homeguard and the civic police volunteer, who were on Wednesday arrested in connection with the death of student leader Anis Khan, said on Thursday that they had visited the latter’s Amta residence “on the instructions of the officer-in-charge”. They did not, however, name the OC.
Speaking to reporters on the way to a court where they were to be produced on Thursday, homeguard Kashinath Bera and civic police volunteer Pritam Bhattacharya, with their faces covered, said they had visited Anis’s house on the night of February 18, the day of the incident, but did not know how he died. To a question on whose instructions they had gone to Anis’s house, they claimed that they were being made scapegoats as they were only carrying out “the OC’s instructions”.
“We have been made scapegoats. We visited his (Anis’s) house following the OC’s instructions. We are innocent. We were only carrying out orders. They (police) are only trying to douse the flames of protest now. We don’t know how he died,” one of the two told mediapersons on the way to the court.
Speaking to The Indian Express after the student leader’s death, the OC of Amta police station, Debobrato Chakraborty, had said no police team was sent to his house. “A murder case has been filed. No police team was sent to his house. There were many cases against Anis, I can’t reveal much about them right now,” Chakraborty had told The Indian Express over the phone on Saturday.
Bera and Bhattacharya were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of being involved in Anis’s death. According to police sources, the arrested homeguard, during interrogation, claimed that Anis had jumped off his house on seeing them as he was trying to escape. However, the investigating officers are yet to reveal why the two went to Anis’s house at midnight.
Meanwhile, Anis’s neighbours and local residents organised a protest outside Amta police station on Thursday. It was alleged that the locals hurled stones at the police station and even tried to bring down the barricades outside to stop the protesters from entering the premises. The police station was surrounded for several hours even as a huge police contingent was deployed to control the situation. The gherao was lifted following the intervention of senior police officers.
At the forefront of the protest were Anis’s father Salem Khan and Pirzada Kasem Siddique, a cleric from Furfura Sharif. “We want a CBI investigation. We don’t trust the SIT. I have lost my son and can’t cooperate with people who were behind his death,” Anis’s father said.
The state police yet again urged Anis’s family as well as protesters to have faith in the ongoing police investigation.
“Investigation of Anish Khan murder for proper justice has been speedily done. All angles are being looked into by the SIT. As of now two police personnel have been taken into custody. Request members of public and family members of Anish Khan to have faith in West Bengal Police and to cooperate with the Special Investigation Team which is set up to ensure proper and speedy justice,” read a post on the official Twitter handle of West Bengal Police.
Anis was found dead outside his home in Howrah’s Amta on February 18. According to his father and other relatives, four men, one in a police uniform and the others in the blue uniform of civic volunteers, entered his house. It was alleged that Anis was found dead outside the house once they left.