A designated CBI court in Indore on Wednesday remanded Bhopal-based interior designer Zahida Parvez and another accused Shakib to CBI custody till March 6. Zahida was arrested here by the CBI on Tuesday in connection with the killing of RTI activist Shehla Masood.
“Scrutiny of the call details of Zahida has revealed that she was allegedly in constant touch with the killers of Masood before August 16, 2011, the day RTI activist was murdered,” sources said. The probe has also revealed that Zahida allegedly provided a bike to the contract killer who killed Masood in front of her residence in the posh Koh-e-Fiza locality in Bhopal, sources added.
The CBI also picked up a builder associated with Zahida along with Shakib on Wednesday morning. Zahida, who had been kept in the women’s police station lock-up for the night was taken to Indore and produced along with Shakib in the designated CBI court in Indore on Wednesday afternoon.
On Tuesday night, the CBI had also picked up Zahida’s husband Asad Parvez and three others, Jafar Ali, Miraz and Sarvar, for interrogation. Zahida’s husband was grilled the whole night and released on Wednesday morning.
Another accused, Irfan, who was picked up by the police in Kanpur, has admitted that he was hired along with two others — Shanu and Salim — to kill Shehla.
They were promised `3 lakhs for the job and had also received an advance of `2 lakhs. The three had come to Bhopal on August 10, 2011 and after six days of area reconnaissance, Shehla was shot dead on August 16.
Irfan has told the CBI that Shanu, a sharpshooter, who had fired the fatal shot killing Shehla, was later gunned down in a gang war. The third accomplice Salim is absconding.
Inquiries by this correspondent revealed that the CBI is still busy exploring the real cause leading to Shehla’s murder.