Bhopal:
18 days after she was found shot dead in her car, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has officially taken over investigations into the murder of Right To Information (RTI) activist Shehla Masood.
Masood, who was also India Against Corruption's Madhya Pradesh chapter head, was shot in the neck in her car at her home in the Koh-e-Fiza area of Bhopal on August 16. She was about to leave to lead demonstrations in support of Anna Hazare's agitation for a stronger Lokpal Bill.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan recommended a CBI inquiry just as the police was going to question BJP MP Tarun Vijay. The activist's family, unhappy with the Madhya Pradesh police investigations, is now hopeful.
"In Outlook, Shehla has named people... I had given a copy of that to the Bhopal Inspector General (IG). He went through it but did not act on it," said Shehla's father.
In her last interview, Shehla had accused BJP's state unit Vice President Anil Dave, Public Information officer Aruna Roy, BJP MLA Vishwas Sarang and IG Pawan Shrivastava of threatening her over her RTI applications. All of them have denied this.
"The issue is with the CBI. It's investigating so at least everyone shouldn't try to be a CBI official," said Mr Dave.
Shehla's father wants the CBI to question all those she had named. The CBI has already filed an FIR against unknown persons in this case.
A CBI team on Saturday went through the documents in her office, and will now go through the statements of the 50 witnesses already examined by the Madhya Pradesh police.