BeyondHeadlines Special Correspondent
Bhopal: In an apparent bid to hush up Right to Information (RTI) activist Shehla Masood murder case, the Bhopal police are trying to give a suicide angle to the incident. Since last night, they are floating the suicide theory through their off the record briefings.
In another development, the government transferred Inspector General (IG) Shailandra Shriwastava and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Adarsh Katiyar late Tuesday night after promoting them a few days back.
Regarding Shehla’s killing, a senior police official, on the condition of anonymity, said: “I am not saying anything with finality, but it could be a case of suicide as we have forensic evidences.” When asked did the police seize the weapon, he said, “The weapon may be with the family”.
The father of Shehla Masood, Masood Sultan, was extremely upset with the suicide theory. “She can never commit suicide. She was a brave girl. She had no personal problem, rather it were the people whose information she was seeking through RTI were facing a problem”. He also sought a CBI inquiry into the case.
Sources in the government revealed that before attending the anti-corruption rally in support of Anna Hazare on Tuesday, Shehla was to appear before the Income Tax appellant authority in connection with IT details she had sought about a BJP MP and the NGO run by him.
She was also supposed to appear before the same authority in connection with the RTI appeal she had filed seeking tax related information about the chairman of a private medical college in Bhopal.
Dr Sharad Pandit asked the officers to pull up their socks and improve their performance. He also expressed his concern over the performance of districts like Khandwa, Burhanpur and Jhabua which were found to be borderline cases in the state.
In the meantime, a Facebook page has been set up as a tribute for her work and carry on her mission. Since the setting up of the page yesterday 940 people have paid their last respect to Shehla Masood.
