Shajar Khan, leader of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), has sought a reinvestigation into the death of engineering student Jishnu Pranoy. Mr. Khan was jailed recently after he participated in an agitation outside the office of the Director-General of Police in Thiruvananthapuram along with Mahija, Jishnu’s mother, and other family members.
He told reporters on Tuesday that the charge sheet filed by the police against the staff and owners of the engineering college had been prepared in such a way that all the accused would be absolved of the charges soon. Most of the evidence against them had been destroyed. “The police should conduct the probe again and file a fresh charge sheet to nail them all,” he said.
Mr. Khan said the conspiracy case filed against him and fellow-activist S. Mini for their participation in the agitation outside the DGP’s office should be dropped. He said the Save Education Committee and Jishnu Solidarity Samiti would organise programmes across the State raising their demands. A programme will be held in Kozhikode district on April 29.
Mr. Khan alleged that some higher-ups in the government were trying to threaten the family members of Jishnu, saying that conspiracy charges would be slapped on them if they went ahead with the agitation. “By this, the government has proved that they are with the self-financing college managements, not Mahija,” he added. Mr. Khan also rebuffed the allegations that the SUCI was trying to “poach” Jishnu’s family, who are reportedly sympathisers of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
