A students rally seeking justice for Anis Khan in Kolkata. (File Photo)A cousin brother of Anis Khan, a former student leader whose death in February this year had triggered protests in West Bengal, was allegedly attacked with weapons by a group of unidentified persons at his residence in Howrah’s Amta area on Friday night.
Salman Khan, who is undergoing treatment at the Uluberia sub-divisional hospital, is also a witness in the case involving Anis’ murder and has recorded his statement before a magistrate.
Salman’s family claimed he was attacked to derail the probe into the case with Anis’ father even pointing fingers at the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress. “The people of the ruling party tried to kill Salman to close the Anis murder case. Some local miscreants of the ruling party are involved in the attack. They are the same people who I suspect were involved in my son’s murder. Salman was attacked to tamper with evidence,” said Anis’ father Salim Khan.
Salman’s wife Hossainara Khatun also accused the TMC supporters of being behind the attack. “My husband stood up for Anis. Since he has been demanding justice, they tried to kill him. Our house was attacked earlier also after Anis’ death. We have been issued threats in the past. The ruling party would threaten people wherever they see them on the street.”
Dismissing the allegations, the TMC claimed that the attack could be a fallout of their family dispute.
Senior CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty slammed TMC over the incident. “Nobody except Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee is safe in the state. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) entrusted with probing Anis Khan’s murder said that no one killed him. They said that he committed suicide. Salman is a witness in the murder case and had even demanded security, but was not given.”
State BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya also targeted the TMC. “It is quite clear. The police cannot investigate their own. The ruling party and police are working together. We saw how the police could not gather any evidence against Anubrata Mondal in the Mangalkot blast case.”
TMC MLA and party’s Howrah president Arunava Sen said, “Our party has nothing to do with the attack. They have this tendency of associating TMC with every single incident happening in the state. An investigation is being conducted on the orders of the Chief Minister in the Anis case. I have come to know that they had some dispute within the family. This incident could also be a fallout of that.”
Anis Khan (27), a former student of Aliah University, was found dead outside his house on February 19. He had participated in several agitations, including the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests. While Anis’ family alleged that he was found in a pool of blood minutes after four “policemen” entered their home looking for him, the SIT’s chargesheet submitted in a Uluberia court said he died after falling from the terrace of his two-storey house.