The West Bengal government on Tuesday opposed an application filed by the father of late student leader Anees Khan in the Calcutta High Court. Khan’s father has objected to the investigation report which claimed that the post-mortem indicated that Khan had died accidentally and it was not a case of murder.
Advocate General SN Mukherjee, appearing for the state, said there was no motive for the murder as the accused—a home guard and a civic activist—did not know Anees Khan and he was on the second floor of his house in Amta in Howrah district on February 19. Fell from an open window.
The two had reportedly gone to the second floor in search of Khan. Amid an uproar by opposition parties over the death, the two were arrested by a special investigation team set up by the state government and charged under Section 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Opposing the objections filed by the student leader’s father Salim Khan to the police inquiry report, Mukherjee submitted before Justice Rajasekhar Mantha that the forensic examination and the post-mortem examination report indicated that the death was accidental and not murder as had been done. The family alleged. Mukherjee said the accused were ‘polygraphed’ by the Forensic Science Laboratory, Delhi. This organization is under the central government and not under the control of the state. The postmortem of Khan’s body was done twice. The second time the post-mortem was conducted on the orders of the court.
Mukherjee also said that the investigation in the case is almost over and the chargesheet will be filed in the trial court soon. The next hearing of the case in the High Court will be held on June 7. Salim Khan had alleged that his son was murdered by people wearing khaki and civilian worker’s uniform. He moved the High Court requesting that the matter be probed by an agency which is not affiliated with the West Bengal Police.