Student leader killed in West Bengal, allegations against TMC raised

28-year old student leader Anis Khan’s family has alleged that four unidentified people, one wearing a police uniform and carrying a gun, barged into their Howrah residence on Friday night and pushed Khan off from the terrace of the three-storey building.

The Indian Express reported that following the murder of the student leader, Aliah University’s students protested in Kolkata’s Park Circus on Saturday, and “clashed with the police”.

Police said that the student leader’s father Salam Khan, a farmer, has registered a complaint at the Amta police station under IPC section 302. On one hand, the police said that Khan did not mention the “accused was in police uniform”. On the other, Khan alleged that though he reported the crime immediately, police officials only came to the scene on Saturday morning.

The student leader had a few cases lodged against him, and he too had filed a complaint against a local TMC leader who had threatened to kill him, reported IE. The victims’s friends said that he was “trying to build an anti-establishment movement”, which is why he was killed.

Immediate arrest of the accused was demanded by the Students Federation of India. Tariqul Ansari, SFI Secretary at Aliah University, said, “He (Anis) was known to be a very vocal student leader. He always fought against lawlessness and corruption of administration. We think his death is a big conspiracy and demand a thorough investigation.”

On Saturday, around 500 students and protestors took to the street to protest against the student leader’s murder by taking out a candlelight march. A section clashed with the police while trying to move past a barricade.

The Indian Secular Front (ISF) said, “Anis Khan, a student of Aliha University, has been brutally murdered. It is learned that the young student leader had received death threats at different times. ISF chairman, MLA Md. Nowsad Siddiqui, spoke to Anis’s family on Saturday morning and went to Amta police station. He said the police should thoroughly investigate the case. If there is any laxity in this regard, the ISF will launch a massive protest in the future.”