CBI to file chargesheet in Shehla Masood murder case

The Central Bureau of Investigation will file its chargesheet on Friday against the five arrested accused in the murder case of Madhya Pradesh RTI activist Shehla Masood.

The chargesheet will be filed in the Special CBI court in Indore against prime accused Zahida Pervez, Saba Farooqui, Shaquib Ali 'Danger', Irfan and Tabish, CBI sources said.

They will be produced before Special CBI Judge Dr Shubra Singh, they said.

The CBI had arrested Bhopal-based interior designer Zahida, her friend Saba and Shaquib (the man who arranged shooters from Uttar Pradesh) initially in the case after minutely scrutinising call details generated from the tower located in the Koh-e-Fiza area where Shehla was shot dead in front of her house on August 16 last year.

Later, the probe agency also arrested alleged sharp shooters -- Irfan and Tabish -- from Kanpur.

It was suspected that Zahida ordered the killing of Shehla as she was jealous of her purported closeness with Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Legislative Assembly Dhruv Narayan Singh.

Though the CBI questioned the MLA and also called him for a polygraph test, it has so far neither arrested him in connection with the case nor given him a clean chit. His name is unlikely to figure in the chargesheet.

According to the CBI, Zahida had allegedly hired the contract killers through Shaquib to eliminate Shehla and had also maintained a diary of events that took place after her sensational murder.

The CBI is likely to submit some of the CDs, a photo album and a motor-cycle that was reportedly used by the contract killers who shot Masood as evidence to nail the accused.