Shehla Masood murder: CBI reconstructs crime scene

The Central Bureau of Investigation and the Central Forensic Science Laboratory have recreated the crime scene of RTI activist Shehla Masood's murder in Bhopal.

Masood was shot dead by an unidentified assailant outside her house in Bhopal's posh Koh-e-Fiza locality on August 16 as she was on her way to join an Anna Hazare related rally. Officials of the CBI and the CFSL have now enacted the murder to try and get leads.

Briefing the media, CBI Deputy Inspector General Hemant Priyadarshi said that it was too early to come to any conclusion at the moment.

"The construction of reconstruction of the scene of crime is still in progress so I would not be able to sum it up at this stage of time. We are trying to reconstruct the whole thing as it would have likely happened on the fateful day when the incident took place," Priyadarshi said.

"We have experts from the forensics division, from the serology, from the physics division and they are very experienced people; whatever facts we had received from the local police the snaps, video clippings we have shared with them," he added.

Masood's murder and the subsequent mystery found few takers at the time of her killing, as the national media was swept by Hazare's anti-corruption crusade.

Her frequent Right to Information queries and her fiery campaign on various causes such as wildlife conservation and corruption had upset many, according to certain media reports.

Several activists and whistleblowers have lost their lives in the past, including S. Manjunath, an officer of the state-run Indian Oil Corporation who was killed for exposing and sealing a petrol pump in Uttar Pradesh in 2005.