Shehla murder: Accused questions CBI clean chit to BJP MLA

Picking holes in the Central Bureau of Investigation chargesheet in the Right To Information activist Shehla Masood murder case, prime accused Zahida Pervez on Monday questioned the "clean chit" given to BJP MLA Dhruvnarayan Singh by the agency while seeking call records of the deceased and results of a narco test conducted on Singh.

"Shehla ki call details abhi tak issue nahin ki...Dhruvnarayan ka polygraph test abhi tak kiya nahi kiya... chargesheet mein ye sab kyon nahin hai (Why the call details of Shehla Masood were not mentioned in the chargesheet. If Dhruvnarayan's polygraph test was done then why the findings are not mentioned in the chargesheet?)," Zahida told reporters emerging from the special CBI court in Indore.

She was produced in the court on Monday along with another prime accused and her close associate Saba Farooqui, besides the two other accused.

In the chargesheet filed against five accused in the special CBI court last month, the CBI cleared the Bhopal MLA of any role in the case and listed five persons including interior designer Zahida Pervez and her confidant Saba Farooqui as prime accused, apart from Shaquib Ali, Ifran and Tabish.

Admitting, perhaps for first time that she was in relationship with the BJP MLA, Zahida said, "Jab mere Dhruvnarayan se sambandh hai aur oose clean chit milee to mujhe bhi milni chahiye...main aropi hoon ho to voh bhi hain na..(If I have had relations with Dhrunarayan and he is given a clean chit then I should also given the same ...If I am accused then he should also be".

Singh underwent a lie-detector test at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Delhi on March 24.   

The CBI suspects that since Zahida was jealous of Shehla because of her relationship with the MLA she plotted her murder.

Though Singh was given a clean chit in the case his name was mentioned in the chargesheet in connection with the motive of the killing as he was allegedly having a relationship with both Shehla and Zahida.

"I am totally dissatisfied with the chargesheet...I wonder what prompted the CBI to make us accused in the case," Zahida said.

When asked if there was any pressure from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government on the course of investigation, Zahida replied, "My husband used to reach the court on the given date of trial earlier, now he is not even attending calls of others (family members). The CBI has been pressurising my family members since I had said that there was santh-gaanth (nexus). The CBI sleuths also threatened my family members at my house," the interior designer said.

Meanwhile, Shaquib Ali 'Danger' who allegedly hired contract killers Tabish and Ifran at the behest of Zahida to carry out the hit job on Shehla alleged that they were falsely implicated by the CBI in the case.

The CBI had claimed to have recovered a .315 bore country-made pistol and some empty cartridge allegedly used in killing the RTI activist from residence of Shaqib two months back.

Shehla was shot dead outside her residence on August 16, 2011 in koh-e-fiza locality in Bhopal.