MP: Murdered RTI activist`s relative deposes in trial court

A relative of slain RTI activist Shehla Masood on Friday appeared as a prosecution witness in a Special Court.

Indore: A relative of slain RTI activist Shehla Masood, who was the first to attend her after she was shot in a car outside her Bhopal residence, on Friday appeared as a prosecution witness in a Special Court here. Sayyed Rahil Hussain, cousin of Shehla, told the Special CBI court that he felt her pulse while shifting her from the driver`s seat to the adjacent seat of the car. The 38-year-old activist was in her car and about to leave to attend an anti-corruption rally in Bhopal when she was shot dead on August 16 last year. Hussain, who appeared before Judge Anupam Srivastava, conducting trial in the murder case, was first examined by senior CBI Prosecutor Hemant Shukla and later cross-examined by defence lawyers H O Soni and Sunil Srivastava. As per the police "panchnama" (a document that records evidence), Shehla was shot in the neck. Hussain, during cross- examination, said he did not see her bleeding heavily. "I shifted Shehla from the driver`s seat to the side seat of the car and felt her pulse. While shifting, my hands did not get any blood stain, nor she was profusely bleeding from neck where a bullet mark and red hole was seen. "Glass panes were not damaged. There was no sign of struggle, nor any of her belongings was found missing. There were some blood spots below the glass panes of the driver`s seat, but there was no blood stain on windscreen," he said in reply to questions asked by Srivastava. Asked by the defence counsel whether he found or saw a motorcycle at the murder spot or near Shehla`s house, he replied in the negative.

According to the police, the killers had come on a motorcycle. PTI