Bhopal:
After arresting a female interior designer in Bhopal this week, the CBI says that it's considerably close to figuring out why Shehla Masood was killed. In August last year, Ms Masood, a Right to Information activist who was well-known in Bhopal, was found dead in her car outside her home.
The CBI says that the interior designer, Zahida Parvez, allegedly hired a hitman to assassinate Ms Masood. So far, the CBI has said the motive was "personal rivalry." But the agency has said it expects to arrest more people soon, including a BJP MLA- investigators did not name who, but in the past, Dhruv Narayan Singh has been interrogated about his association with Ms Masood.
Talking to NDTV, Ms Masood's father says that he would not be surprised if a politician is found entangled in his daughter's death. He says Mr Singh was well-known to his family, and used to visit the Masood home often. That's why, he says, when he found his daughter dead, the first person he called was the MLA. Masood Sultan says the MLA's reaction surprised him. "He just kept quiet," he recalled. "I expected him to ask for details but he did not. ...Then he came to the house to offer his condolences. After that he never came to meet us," he said.
Earlier this week, Ms Masood's father said that to the best of his knowledge, his daughter did not know Ms Zahida Parvez.