In a new twist in the Shehla Masood murder case, a close female friend of Zahida Pervez and who was allegedly aware of the conspiracy hatched by the Bhopal-based architect to eliminate the RTI activist, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in Bhopal on Friday.
The architect has already been arrested along with a male friend and an alleged contract killer.
Accused Saba Farooqi (36) had once approached Ms. Pervez for a job in her architecture and design firm and subsequently they became close friends. Based on the findings of its probe, the CBI questioned Ms. Farooqi and learnt that she was in the know of the murder conspiracy.
A diary purportedly seized from Ms. Pervez has proved instrumental in unravelling the purported motive behind the murder.
According to CBI sources, the entire plot revolves round Ms. Pervez's close relationship with a BJP MLA. “The two came in contact in 2007. Zahida was also friends with Shehla, who was once close to the MLA. But Shehla and the MLA later fell apart,” said an official.
“In the past two-three years she [Ms. Pervez] had become increasingly suspicious of the MLA's relations with other friends. She would scrutinise his phone call records on a regular basis to ascertain with whom he had links. In fact, she had put him under surveillance through one of her employees, whose sole job was to tail the MLA. She along with her friend Saba would also chase his car to keep a track of his movements,” the official said.
When Ms. Pervez learnt that the MLA was in regular contact with Shehla and met her on several occasions, it appeared from her purported writings in the diary and disclosures, her resentment against the RTI activist grew. The CBI suspects that she then started hatching a conspiracy to get rid of Shehla and as part of the plan she befriended Saqib Ali, who had once in May 2011 come to her office to collect payment on behalf of a client. “Hundreds of phone calls and text messages exchanged between them reveal that they became close friends. She then asked him to eliminate Shehla. He refused, but hired contract killers for Rs. 3 lakh for the job,” the official said.
Two of the alleged killers have been identified as Irfan, who has been arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad, and Shanu Olanga, who, according to Irfan, has been murdered.
A day before the murder on August 16 last year, Ms. Pervez purportedly wrote in her diary that the MLA had not spoken with her for the past three days but talked to Shehla for half hour. The CBI, from records of the phone call made on the fateful day, found that after Shehla was shot dead outside her residence in Bhopal allegedly by Shanu around 11.15 a.m., he made a call to Saqib at 11.22 a.m. Four minutes later, Saqib allegedly made a confirmation call to Ms. Pervez.
“In her diary, Zahida on that day wrote that she was depressed. Then ‘Ali' called up at 11.15 a.m. and said mubarak ho ghar ke samne hi kaam ho gaya (congratulations, the job got done outside the house itself),” said the official. She allegedly made a payment of Rs. 2 lakh to Saqib. While Saqib was arrested at Hazrat Nizamuddin in South-East Delhi, the CBI is also probing the role of the BJP MLA in the case.
