Anish Khan, a student who was staging a protest for nearly 130 days against the Mamata Banerjee government, was allegedly murdered in Howrah. The murder of Anish Khan has now triggered massive protests by the students against the West Bengal government, who accuse the Mamata Banerjee-led government of killing the protesting student.
According to the reports, Anish Khan, a student leader of the radical Islamic organisation Indian Secular Front, was killed at Amta in Howrah district by four unidentified people in the early hours of Saturday.
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
The family of the deceased 28-year-old student said 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 alleged that the victim Anish Khan was thrown off from the second floor.
“It was around 12:30 am that four persons came to our house and identified themselves as policemen from the Amta police station. One of them stood with me on the ground floor. He was carrying a firearm. The other three took my son upstairs. Moments later, I heard a huge thud and found that my son was lying in a pool of blood. As I raised the alarm, all the four persons fled,” said Salem Khan, Anish Khan’s father.
However, the local police rejected the allegations claiming that none of the policemen was sent to any such location for any kind of questioning. They have sent the dead body for post-mortem. “We have started a murder case. No police personnel went to his house. If we need to interrogate somebody we call that person to the police station. Investigation is going on,” a senior police officer said.
Protests break out against Mamata Banerjee-led government
Following the suspicious death of one of the students, students of Aliah University hit the streets on Saturday to block the seven-point Park Circus crossing in Kolkata. They also took out a candlelight march.
The police reached the spot and tried to calm down the protesters. However, the protesters demanded immediate arrest of the accused. The protest turned violent as the protestors tried to move the barricade put up by the police.
Reacting to the incident, West Bengal Minister Firhad Hakim 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,” said Firhad Hakim, state minister.
