No arrest yet in West Bengal student death case

Left supporters lay siege to police station.

Protests over the death of student leader Anish Khan grew louder on Sunday with locals in Amta and student organisations staging a series of protests in different parts of West Bengal. 

Supporters of the student and youth wings of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) laid siege to the Amta police station and broke barricades. Later in the day, supporters of the Students Federation of India and the Democratic Youth Federation of India met the family members of the deceased at his residence in Amta block in Howrah district.

Late on Friday evening, four unidentified men broke into the residence of Anish Khan, a student leader in Kolkata’s Aliah University and threw him off the third floor of the house. His father Salem Khan not only alleged police inaction but also said the assailants were dressed in police uniform and pointed a firearm to his head when they attacked and killed his son.

Almost two days after the mysterious death, there have been no arrests, which has precipitated the situation. On Sunday, when the police visited the house of the deceased, the locals staged protests.

“CPIM_WESTBENGAL condemns in the strongest possible words the execrable & barbarous butchery of firebrand student leader & a harsh critic of TMC-run state govt Com. Anish Khan allegedly by goons patronised by ruling TMC party,” CPI(M) West Bengal State unit tweeted from its official handle.

During the day, a team of forensic experts visited the site of incident and collected samples. An audio clip of the conversation between the father of the student and the police also surfaced during the day where the father can be heard pleading to the police to visit the site of incident. Mr. Salem Khan confirmed that it was his voice and that his son’s post-mortem was performed without the presence of family members.

Soumya Roy, Superintendent of Police, Howrah Rural, said it was not correct that the police did not respond to the call of family members. Mr. Roy said the case would be investigated by an officer in the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police. Senior officers of the West Bengal police, including Director General of Police Manoj Malaviya, held a meeting during the day over the death.