Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ended hearing a petition for CBI probe into the death of Left-leaning student leader Anis Khan at his Amta home in Howrah on February 19 and reserved his verdict.

Anis’s father Salem Khan had moved court demanding a CBI probe into the death of his son, who he alleged was thrown to his death by policemen.

During the final hearing on Tuesday, Khan’s counsel Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya submitted that the probe by the special investigating team (SIT) of the state had done an inquiry but it was not clear who were responsible for the death.

Citing the letters written by Anis, Bhattacharyya said police tortured Anis and his family and the sequence of events proved the youth’s murder. “The SIT has failed to find the truth…,” he said and insisted the court hand over the probe to the CBI.

Speaking prior to Bhattacharyya, state advocate general S.N. Mukherjee claimed there was no direct witness to Anis’s death. “The only witness was Anis’s father, who deposed he heard a sound,” he said. Citing a Supreme Court ruling, he said the apex court had ruled high courts should be very cautious while handing over a case to the CBI for probe.

At the end of hearing, the state counsel Amitesh Banerjee claimed that the statements given by Anis’s parents under Sections 161 and 164 of CrPC should be considered by the bench before taking any decision.

Justice Mantha announced that the hearing of the petition was over and reserved his verdict. He also asked Banerjee to hand over the copies of the statements by Anis’s father and mother to him by Wednesday morning.

Bogtui case

CBI counsel Billwadal Bhattacharya informed a Calcutta High Court division bench, which is headed by Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava, on Tuesday that chargesheets in Birbhum’s Bogtui carnage and Bhadu Sheikh murder cases would be submitted within two weeks.

The CBI on Tuesday submitted its second report on the progress of the investigations into the two cases.

The reports were submitted in sealed covers. State advocate-general S.N. Mukherjee requested the Chief Justice to give copies of the reports to the parties of the cases within two weeks.

The division bench fixed June 13 for the next hearing.