By the looks of it he was everywhere. In this city of a million marches, his lanky figure, bearded face became a familiar sight at any protest meet over the last few years.

A protest to release Umar Khalid, Anis Khan would be there. A drive to collect relief for flood victims, Anis would be there. Any injustice against the student community, Anis would be there. A celebratory rally following the repeal of farm laws, Anis was there. That was the last time many of his comrade-in-arms saw him.

Yet till the abrupt, blood-spilled end to his life last week very few outside the immediate world of activists, protesters and students knew who Anis Khan was. Most of them still don’t know who he was, though many claimants have come forward.

Student leader Anis Khan in a protest to release Umar Khalid. The Telegraph.

Last week, on Friday night, four men, one in police uniform and the others in mufti, came knocking at their Sarada Dakshin Khanpara house looking for Anis, alleged his father. A little later, the four left and Anis was found lying on the ground dead. The police have denied sending any team to Anis’s house. But the state government has announced a special investigation team to probe the death amid widespread allegations, primarily from the Opposition BJP, Congress and the Left, that the police were behind the murder.

Anis’s family has refused an invitation from chief minister Mamata Banerjee to meet her. His father has made it clear he no longer trusts the local police. Hence, he has demanded a CBI probe.

Activist Anish collecting relief for Kerala flood victims. The Telegraph Picture.

The youngest of three siblings, Anis (28) lost his mother last year. Sarada Dakshin Khan Para located across the River Hooghly in Howrah’s Amta was too distant for comrades in Calcutta to take a look at how their fellow lived. Their house in Amta village is yet to be fully built. The bricks stare out from its walls.

None of his friends in Calcutta know much about Anis’s younger days in school. “He studied in his village school. Then he went to Bagnan college for a year after which he enrolled at Aliah University for MBA,” says Saheb Ali. Last year, Anis joined Kalyani University to study journalism and mass communication.

During his college days, Anis was with the CPM students’ wing, SFI. The Telegraph Picture.

Mamata has claimed that Anis was in contact with them, implying the ruling Trinamul. Probably, the chief minister is unaware that Anis had shared a photograph of his bruised shoulder on the night of March 18, 2018. His injuries were allegedly courtesy men owing allegiance to the local MLA from Bagnan. That was four years ago. That Bagnan where he had his first brush with student politics. The same Bagnan where the local police station has a case filed against him under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Anis grabbed the attention of activists and student leaders around 2017-18. “At some point or the other Anish _ that’s how I always called him and he never corrected me _ started participating in protest meets organised by organisations. Chhatra Parishad (the Congress’ students’ wing known as NSUI elsewhere), SFI, the ‘No NRC’ movement, other rights movements or the ISF, the banner didn’t matter. The ‘cause’ did. He wrote placards against the BJP, Trinamul and the Samyukta Morcha (the alliance of Left, Congress and ISF). He also campaigned in the Samyukta Morcha’s favour. Anis harboured contradictions. But that he could freely move between camps irrespective of party colours has made it easier for many of them to claim him as their own.

But who did he actually belong to?” asks Sumit Ghosh, socio-political activist.

During his college days in Bagnan, Anis was with the CPM students’ wing, SFI. On August 28, 2018, Anis joined the Congress’ students’ wing, Chhatra Parishad, at Mahajati Sadan. “Later, I saw his photographs on social media with other organisations. But he stayed in touch with me,” says Sourav Prosad, the Bengal Chhatra Parishad president.

“Two days before his murder, he called me to say he wanted to campaign for our candidate in the Uluberia municipality… In one line, Anis was someone who would protest against any injustice meted towards students,” Prosad added.

On December 19, 2020, barely months before the 2021 Assembly elections, when the CPM was actively wooing the Indian Secular Front along with the Congress for an alliance, Anis stood with a placard around his neck to denounce the BJP, the Trinamul and the Left’s prospective alliance. He was also a part of the “No Vote to BJP” campaign. Yet, he had campaigned for the Left as well as the Indian Secular Front when the elections happened some months later.

“He was essentially anti-establishment. He resented both the BJP and the Trinamul. I am certain, if the Left had been in power now, he would have stood against them, too,” said Anirban Das, a fellow activist who knew Anis for the last four to five years. “His was the first voice of protest from Aliah University that we got to hear around 2017-18. He had that courage. He went on hunger strike. He always had a Left bent of mind. He reached out to us seeking support in the Aliah University movement,” added Das. “It was in his character to protest. He would often chide us, ‘why don’t you call me?’ ”

Social and political activist Ananya Deb, who participated in many a movement with him, found him reserved, except for matters political. “He was a big part of our ‘Occupy CU’ movement,” remembered Ananya. The distance from Amta to Calcutta is over 44km. Barasat, Kalyani even farther. After the Kerala floods of 2018, Anis came to know of a relief collection camp being held at Barasat and landed up there.

Sheikh Saheb Ali, the former president of the Aliah University students’ union, was possibly the closest to qualify as his friend. “I have known him since 2015. I was pursuing my MA in Arabic and he was doing MBA. He wasn’t a political activist alone. Somebody required blood, he would come forward to arrange. Somebody needed hospitalisation, he would accompany,” said Ali. “For several months, he and his family came under attack from the ruling party. After joining the ISF last year, he was trying to build a support base in Amta, which hurt the Trinamul’s interests.”

Anis’s decision to join ISF did not go down well with a sizeable section of Left activists who were wary of a Muslim cleric forming a political party and the CPM’s joining forces with it. “When I asked him why, he smiled. ‘I have to be with someone to fight the Trinamul’, is what he said,” recalled Das.

But who was the youth beyond the protests and marches and slogans calling for revolution? Did he have a life beyond that? Did he have a love interest? His friend Saheb says no. “He kept himself away from women.”

Anis’s reading habits moved from Marx, Lenin to Subhas Chandra Bose. Films, literature or theatre did not occupy any special interest. “He was looking for an alternate, a way that would create a beautiful world for the marginalised, toiling section. That is why he always would raise the slogan of revolution and get scolded. The parties can compete to stake their claim but ultimately, he was a representative of the working classes. A fighter, sometimes headstrong, reckless,” says Sumit.