Kolkata, Feb 23: Slain student activist Anis Khan’s family on Wednesday claimed to have received a threat call warning of ‘dire consequences’ if they did not stop demanding a CBI inquiry into his death, which has triggered street protests. The victim’s elder brother Sabir Khan alleged that he received the anonymous phone call on Tuesday-Wednesday midnight asking the family to give up their persistent demand for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Otherwise, the family would face ‘dire consequences, the caller warned, according to Sabir Khan. Meanwhile, the family members refused to hand over the victim’s mobile phone to the newly constituted SIT, set up by the West Bengal government, and continued to insist on a CBI probe. “This is the fourth day since my son was murdered in front of me at home and the killers have not been arrested. Now I too believe that the SIT would not be able to do justice to the case,” the victim’s grieving father Salem Khan told visiting journalists. The Senior Khan also refused to hand over Anis Khan’s mobile phone to the visiting SIT team twice on Tuesday and said they would only give it either to the CBI or a court of law.
After failing to persuade the Khan family to hand over the mobile phone to them, the SIT served a notice requesting the family members to provide the mobile phone for the ongoing investigation. The SIT team comprising three IPS officers – DIG CID Meeraj Khalid, Joint Commissioner of Barrackpore Commisionerate Dhrubajyoti De, and CID Special Superintendent Pradip Yadav – visited Anis Khan’s house at Amta, Howrah, on Tuesday. Another SIT team also visited in the evening, sources said. “We want a CBI investigation. We have faith in Chief Mynister Mamata Banerjee, but cannot understand why she is not ordering a CBI probe.” septuagenarian Salem Khan said.
The city has seen a wave of protest, mainly led by the students, after Anis Khan’s body was found in a pool of blood on the ground floor of his residence on Saturday night. The CPI(M)’s student wing SFI activists slate on a dharna at the gate of Calcutta University since Tuesday demanding the arrest of Anis Khan’s killers and a fair investigation into the ‘brutal murder’ of the Indan Secular Front activist and former student of Aliah University. The SFI also decided to stage protest demonstrations across the city to condemn the state administration’s efforts to suppress the voice of the commoners during a protest march brought out in the city on Tuesday.
