Shehla Masood murder: CBI surmises character of BJP MLA
The CBI claims that Shehla Masood, a Right to Information Activist, was killed on the instructions of a female interior designer from Bhopal named Zahida Parvez. However, sources in the investigating agency say they will soon reveal the alleged role of an MLA from the BJP in Bhopal. Ms Masood, who was 32-year-old was shot dead in her car outside in broad daylight in front of her house in August last year. She was close to chief to an anti-corruption rally, among a lot that comprised being held across the nation to support activist Anna Hazare, who was on a lengthy hunger strike in Delhi at the time.
The Bhopal unit of the CBI had been looking into Shehla’s murder since the first week of September and even announced a reward of Rs.5 lakh for anyone giving information leading to the arrest of the assailants.
A CBI team from Delhi arrived in Bhopal Monday to take over the investigations. The team, comprising Joint Director Keshav and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Arun Bosra, reviewed the investigation done so far. Last evening, the CBI summoned the interior designer for interrogation to its office in Bhopal.CBI had arrested another accused, Saqib Danger, on Wednesday allegedly for helping Zahida Pervez hire contract killer to murder Masood. According to reports, Zahida allegedly hired contract killers and instructed them to kill Shehla as she (Zahida) suspected her husband of having illicit relation with Shehla. Ms Masood’s father said today that he does not know the interior designer and is not aware of any link between his daughter and her.
According to reports, last year she had informed the authorities that she “feared for her life” and had complained about it to the police chief. Nearly a dozen right to information activists have been killed and many others attacked in India since 2008.
Initially, the Bhopal police described Ms Masood’s death as a suicide. But a series of media reports forced them to begin treating it as a murder. A series of high-profile people from Bhopal were then interrogated. They included Tarun Vijay, an MP for the BJP from Uttarakhand who had spoken to her just hours before her death, and an MLA, also from the BJP, named Dhruva Narayan Singh.
