The Bhopal Police on Friday said they would soon question Bharatiya Janata Party MP Tarun Vijay in connection with the RTI activist Shehla Masood murder case.
“She used to work with an organisation headed by Mr. Tarun Vijay, so we will be sending a team to Delhi to question him,” Senior Superintendent of Police Yogesh Chaudhary told The Hindu .
“Several other persons are also being questioned by us regarding the murder and investigations are going on,” said Mr. Chaudhary.
Ms. Masood, an RTI activist, was murdered outside her residence in Bhopal on August 16.
Mr. Tarun Vijay will be the second BJP leader to be questioned by the police in the case. Earlier, BJP MLA from Bhopal Dhruv Narayan Singh was questioned.
Another BJP leader, Anil Madhav Dave, Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh, may also be questioned by the police, sources said.
Ms. Masood used to run an event management company called Miracles and used to organise events for Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation headed by Mr. Vijay. The slain activist's father has claimed that she had visited several foreign countries in Europe with Mr. Vijay.
“Shehla was a friend”
Mr. Vijay on his part reportedly told media persons in Delhi that Ms. Masood was his friend and that he had talked to her on the day of her murder and the day before that.
Meanwhile the State Government, following a proposal from the State Police, has declared a reward of Rs. 1 lakh for the capture of Ms. Masood's killers.
The State Government has also requested the Union Home Ministry to conduct a CBI probe into the matter.
However, at a press conference in Delhi, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram reportedly told media persons that he was not aware of any such request.
“I cannot express a political opinion here...If there is a letter, we will certainly address it with the urgency it requires. If there is a request that the case be taken over by the CBI, certainly in consultation with the Department of Personnel and the CBI we will take an appropriate decision, but first there must be reference from the (State) government,” a report quoted Mr. Chidambaram as saying.
