Masood murder: Accused trio remanded to judicial custody

A special Central Bureau of Investigation court on Tuesday remanded three accused, including city-based interior designer Zahida Pervez, to judicial custody till March 26 in connection with the murder of RTI activist Shehla Masood.

The special CBI court of Judicial Magistrate Subhra Singh sent Zahida, her assistant Saba Farooqui and contract killer Shakib 'Danger', allegedly hired by the prime accused to execute the murder, in 14-day judicial remand, senior Public Prosecutor Hemant Shukla told media persons.

The court also asked Zahida and Saba to record their statements under section 164 of CrPC tomorrow as they had refused to undergo a lie detector test, while the third accused Shakib has sought ten-day time to record his statement, he said.

Shukla said Zahida and Saba would be lodged in Indore's district jail, while Shakib in the Central Jail.

Earlier, the accused were brought here from Bhopal under high security for the hearing.

Zahida is accused of plotting the murder allegedly over the slain activist's growing "closeness" to Bharatiya Janata Party member of legislative assembly Dhruv Narayan Singh who was also grilled by the CBI.

Shehla was shot dead outside her residence on August 16, 2011 in posh Koh-e-Fiza locality in Bhopal.