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Six Years After She Was Murdered, RTI Activist Shehla Masood's Killers Sentenced To Life Imprisonment

An interior designer and her friend was convicted.
Right To Dissent/Twitter

BHOPAL -- Six years after RTI activist Shehla Masood was shot dead, a special court sentenced four people, including primary accused Zahida Parvez, to life imprisonment. Parvez, an interior designer, and her friend Saba Farooqui, will be serving the life term along with two shooters they had hired.

Saquib alias Danger, who was hired to kill Shehla, and his crony Tabish, were also sentenced for life. The were sentenced by a special court in Indore.

Shehla Masood, 38, a prominent RTI activist and anti-corruption crusader in Bhopal, was shot dead in front of her house in the posh Koh-e-Fiza locality on 16 August, 2011.

The Bhopal police had failed to crack the murder case and it was finally handed over to the CBI. The main accused Zahida Parvez schemed to kill Shehla, as she was bothered by her growing friendship with former BJP MLA Dhruv Narayan Singh. Singh is also the son of former Madhya Pradesh CM Govind Narayan Singh. Zahida was known to be close to Dhruv and said to be extremely suspicious and resentful of any woman he interacted with.

So she hired Saquib, a history-sheeter, to arrange for a shooter and 'eliminate' Shehla. The activist was shot dead when she was leaving her house at around 11.38 am on 16 August, six years ago.

The CBI finally arrested the accused but couldn't find evidence of Dhruv Narayan Singh's involvement in the crime. Hence, he was given clean-chit. The trial began in the CBI court in Indore.

Defence lawyer Sanjay Sharma said that he would appeal against the order in High Court.

Speaking after the judgment, Zahida Parvez said that she was convicted though there was no witness or evidence against her. She alleged that CBI had framed her under pressure from influential people. Shehla Masood's kin expressed satisfaction at the verdict.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.