Shehla murder case: No relief for Saba Farooqui

A special Central Bureau of Investigation court on Tuesday rejected the bail application of Saba Farooqui, one of the five accused in the 2011 murder of right to information activist Shehla  Masood at Bhopal.

"In view of the serious nature of the crime, and she (Saba) being a co-accused with key accused Zahida Pervez, it was not appropriate to release her on bail," special CBI court judge Anupam Srivastava said.

The defence had sought the relief for Saba saying she was suffering from a spleen disorder.

"The court in its judgement assured the accused that the jail authorities would get her (Saba) appropriate medical treatment and care whenever required," senior public prosecutor Hemant Shukla said.

There was no mention of the illness in Saba's medical report filed by the jail authorities before the court. However, they would take care of her health as per its manual, he said quoting the court order.

Besides Saba, who is a close aide of Zahida Pervez, Shakeb Ali Danger, Tabish Khan and Irfan are the other accused in the RTI activist's murder outside her residence in Bhopal's Koh-e-Fiza locality on August 17 last year.