Anis Khan death case: SIT submits progress report

Taking the 82-page report on record, the court directed that the matter would be taken up for hearing again on Monday (April 25).

Anis Khan was found dead at his home at Amta in Howrah district in the early hours of February 19 under mysterious circumstances. The SIT had arrested a home guard and a civic volunteer in connection with the death and they are in judicial custody.

The court had earlier taken suo moto cognizance of the case. However, it had turned down a prayer for a CBI probe and had allowed the state government-appointed SIT to continue with its probe under the supervision of a Howrah district judge. The court had also ordered for a second post-mortem to be conducted by the SIT under the supervision of the Howrah district judge.

The court also took cognizance of certain disparaging remarks reportedly made by the petitioner Salem Khan (father of Anis) against the court that were subsequently circulated in social media. Salem Khan had allegedly said that Justice Mantha did not conduct a hearing of the case on Monday due to “political pressure”.

Justice Mantha indicated that he would recuse from hearing the case if the petitioner does not have confidence in the proceedings. However, Advocate General S N Mookherjee as well as senior counsel Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya prayed before the judge to not recuse from hearing the case.

Accordingly, the court ordered the petitioner to tender a written apology in an affidavit on the next date of hearing on April 25.