Anis death case: HC takes SIT report on record, asks victim's father to apologise

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday took on record 82 page SIT report in connection with Anis Khan case and directed the deceased's father to apologise for his controversial remark that Justice hearing the case did not sit in his court on Monday under the pressure of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Justice Rajshekhar Manthar directed Anis Khan's father to apologise with an affidavit even though he backed away from his decision at the request of lawyers. Lawyer Bikasharanjan Bhattacharya said: "If Salem Khan has said such a thing, we apologize for it. Salem Khan is an ordinary farmer, his son has died. He is under stress. He does not know the rules of the court. He is not such an educated man. We apologise for any inconvenience."Accordingly, the Court ordered the petitioner to tender a written apology in an affidavit on the next date of hearing which is slated to take place on April 25.

"Mr. Bhattacharya has accepted the directions of this Court that an apology should be forthcoming on affidavit from his client. Let such affidavit be filed before this Court on the adjourned date", the Court ordered.

Submitting the report in a sealed cover before the court of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha, the state government's lawyer told it that the investigation was nearing completion.

On March 14, the Calcutta High Court ordered that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) will continue the investigation in the student leader Anis Khan death and directed the SIT to complete the probe in another one month. The next hearing was earlier scheduled on April 18. Anis Khan's postmortem was conducted for the second time under the directions of the court and the latter had asked for preserving the viscera report under the presence of district judge. According to police sources, the second post mortem report that has already come at hand has not clearly substantiated the cause of his death.