Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: In a significant development, the centre on Friday gave the go-ahead to a CBI probe into the murder of Madhya Pradesh RTI activist Shehla Masood in Bhopal.
"We received a letter from the MP government and have forwarded it to CBI for its views," Minister of State for Department of Personnel V Narayanasamy said.
He said, "I have just cleared the file and granted permission for a CBI probe into the case."
The Centre had received a letter from Madhya Pradesh government requesting for a CBI probe into the murder of Masood in Bhopal.
Masood was shot dead outside her residence in Bhopal on August 16.
BJP Member of Parliament Tarun Vijay is also under scanner in connection with Masood’s murder.
Madhya Pradesh police, probing the case, is likely to question the BJP MP in connection with the incident.
Reports claim that Vijay had talked on phone with Shehla on August 16, 2011, hours before she was shot dead by unknown assailant outside her Koh-e-Fiza residence here. However, Tarun Vijay has denied any involvement in the murder.
A police team from the state is expected to visit New Delhi in this regard soon.
Addressing the reporters, on Thursday, the BJP MP said, “We will cooperate in every way with investigators in the probe”, adding that Shehla was a very “brave activist” and justice would be delivered in the case.
“We will provide all information to the investigating agencies and continue fighting till the culprits are booked and hanged.”
He also urged friends and colleagues of Shehla to pass on whatever information they have to investigation agencies.
Shehla headed the Madhya Pradesh chapter of Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption movement and had, days before her murder, pledged to expose widespread corruption and that she had several vital documents to back her claims.
She was also a green activist and had fought for the Save Tiger project in Madhya Pradesh.
Sultan Masood, the father of Shehla, has claimed that influential people were behind the murder of her daughter and that he did not expect justice for his daughter and as a person belonging to the "lower-middle class" he was powerless to demand an effective probe.
He also alleged that in January this year, Shehla had filed a complaint with the Lokayukta that she feared threat to her life.
