[Anis Khan death] Calcutta High Court directs second post-mortem under supervision of District Judge

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed a second post-mortem to be conducted in the alleged murder case of student leader Anis Khan [Salem Khan v. State of West Bengal]..The same is to be done under the supervision of a District Judge, Justice Rajasekhar Mantha stated. "Let the 2nd post mortem be conducted after exhuming of the body and the viscera continued to be preserved by the SIT under the supervision and direction, of the aforesaid District Judge," the order said..27-year-old Khan was found dead outside his home on February. His parents alleged that he was thrown off the roof of the building by four police officers who had come to question him, reported The Wire.Earlier this week, the High Court had taken suo motu cognizance of the matter and sought a response from the State. This matter will be heard along with a fresh petition filed by Khan's father..The father stated that in view of the circumstances that led to his son's alleged murder, he had little faith in the State Police. Hence, he seriously opposed the exhumation of the body for a second post-mortem and examination of the mobile phone of Khan. A transfer of the investigation to an independent outside agency was thus sought..Advocate General SN Mookherjee informed the Court that the State is very serious about the investigation. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising three Senior IPS Officers has been constituted, he said.Further, he claimed that the State as well as the Amta Police Station and the entire district police, have been kept away from the investigation."The SIT itself has constituted its own team for the investigation which includes seven persons from different divisions of the CID, West Bengal," he added..The High Court noted that it would be too premature to opine whether the investigation by the SIT would be appropriate or not."This Court would like to first evaluate the investigation of the SIT, the adequacy of which can only be determined thereafter. The SIT shall, therefore, proceed with urgency and expedition. It is expected that no stone will be left unturned in course of such investigation which shall be carried out in letter and spirit and by the book." .In view of the prayers made by the petitioner and the grave nature of the offence, the Court directed District and Sessions Judge Rai Chattopadhyay to oversee the SIT investigation in general, as well as the second post-mortem, the examination of the mobile phone and the test identification parade. It also ordered that an appropriate analysis report shall be provided to the SIT.Further, the Court ordered that the District Judge will be entitled to nominate any person of the rank of a Magistrate to be present at the time of the post-mortem. The post-mortem and examination of all witnesses shall be videographed and copies will be made available to the DM, the Court said..The SIT was directed to ensure full and adequate protection to all witnesses and submit its progress report within two weeks."It is expected that the investigation will not be hampered in any way and the media is requested to please bear the same in mind," the Court added..The petitioner was represented by Senior Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya and Advocates Samim Ahammed, Imteaz Ahammed, Saloni Bhattacharya, Gulsanwara Pervin, Sabyasachi Chatterjee, Kaustav Bagchi, Debayan Ghosh, Priti Kar, Debolina Sarkar, R Mukherjee and Akashdeep Mukherjee.Along with AG Mookherjee, Senior Advocate Amitesh Banerjee and Advocates Anirban Ray, TM Siddique, Raja Saha, D Ghosh and Nilotpal Chatterjee appeared for the State..[Anis Khan death] "A grave and emergent situation:" Calcutta High Court takes suo motu cognizance.[Read order]