CBI summons BJP MLA, contractor

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Madhya Pradesh BJP vice-president and MLA Dhruv Narain Singh was on Saturday summoned for interrogation by CBI sleuths in connection with the August 16, 2011 murder of RTI activist Shehla Masood.

In a related development, the designated CBI court in Indore on Saturday remanded Saba Farooqui, a friend of the main accused Zahida Parvez who was arrested here Friday, to three days’ CBI custody. She has been charged with criminal conspiracy in this case.
The Shehla murder case is becoming murkier each day with more CBI disclosures in the public domain following the seizure of a personal diary from the office of the main accused, Zahida Parvez. According to the CBI, Shehla’s murder was masterminded by Zahida as she was in love with “a local BJP MLA and could not digest his close proximity to Shehla”.
CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra earlier revealed that Zahida’s diary clearly spells out that she had used contract killers to eliminate Shehla as she was fed up with Mr Dhruv Narain Singh’s closeness to her. It is also being pointed out that Zahida targeted Shehla as she was threatening to use the RTI to sabotage her business interests.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj defended Mr Singh. Speaking to a section of the media, she said: “Guilt gets established only when convicted by court, statements by the police do not make anyone guilty.” There is no evidence against Mr Singh, she said, and described media reports as “sheer injustice”.
CBI sources have revealed that Saba was given the task of shadowing the BJP MLA’s movements by Zahida.
She was also keeping track of every call he was making to his women friends by obtaining copies of his call statements. Questions are also being raised about Zahida’s new-found status as a registered architect-cum-interior designer with the state-owned Tourism Development Corporation after she was introduced to Mr Singh while he was heading the corporation. It is an entirely different matter that she was listed as a registered architect even with the state-owned Environmental Planning and Coordination Organisation in 2005 although she did not possess any formal qualification as an architect.
The CBI is casting its net wider in this case. In the latest development, it issued summons on Saturday to a local building contractor, Sanjay Gupta, for interrogation. He is considered close to Mr Singh. After locating the motorcycle used in Shehla’s murder, the CBI has also found the car, a black Indica Vista (MP04 CC 4308), originally registered in the name of Asad Parvez, Zahida’s husband, which is said to have been used for paying money to the killers. This car had changed hands about a fortnight ago and was now with another person not linked with the case.
Zahida, Saba and Shaquib “Danger”, who has also been arrested, will be produced in the designated CBI court on March 6.
It was Shaquib who had allegedly arranged three sharpshooters from Kanpur, Irfan, Shanu and Salim.
Irfan, arrested by the police in Kanpur, will be produced in court on March 9. Eyebrows are also being raised due to Shaquib’s proximity to a few top BJP leaders. Congressmen even came out on the streets here to lodge their protest against this.
On Saturday the CBI got the production warrant to bring Irfan from Kanpur. He has confessed money had been paid to eliminate Shehla and that it was Shanu who had shot her dead. Shanu was later killed in a shootout.