A special Central Bureau of Investigation court in Indore on Saturday convicted four people of killing Right to Information activist Shehla Masood in August 2011 and sentenced them to life imprisonment, PTI reported. Interior designer Zahida Pervez and three others – Saba Farooqui, Saqib Ali and Tabish – killed Masood while she was leaving her home in Bhopal to participate in Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption campaign.
However, the court acquitted another accused Irfan who became a government witness in the case. Masood’s father Sultan Masood, however, seemed upset with the verdict. “Perhaps the real culprits will never be caught,” he said without elaborating, according to The Telegraph.
While the Bhopal Police had initially said the activist had committed suicide, the case was later handed over to the CBI after accusations of a cover-up surfaced. Following its investigation, the CBI said Pervez had become jealous of Masood’s closeness to former Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Dhruv Narain Singh. Pervez approached Ali, who in turn hired Tabish and another man, Irfan, to kill Masood.
Calling the verdict extreme, Pervez said she had been sentenced “without any concrete evidence and witnesses”. “It is nothing but CBI pressure which rules the roost in Madhya Pradesh.”
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