Blood in Koh-E-Fiza Bhopal

Shehla Masood, an upwardly mobile educated Muslim girl from Bhopal who graduated from an event manager to a RTI activist/animal rights activist/anti corruption crusader, was gunned down outside her house in the Kohefiza area of Bhopal on August 16, 2011 seconds after she boarded her car to leave for Anna Hazare's India Against Corruption campaign. What seemed like a politically motivated killing of an RTI activist, was referred to the CBI by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan on the third day of murder.

It took a little more than six months for the CBI to finally crack the case. Joint Director Mr Keshav Kumar and Deputy Inspector General of police Mr Arun Bothra preferred doing most of the legwork themselves. No angle was left un-probed and finally it so turned out that Zahida Parvez, an interior designer, with assistance from her employee and friend Saba Farooque plotted to kill Shehla Masood. Shakib Danger, a ladies tailor who had more than one dozen serious cases pending against him, got the killers from Kanpur for Rs 3 lakhs.

Shakib Danger was the first to be arrested followed by Zahida Parvez, Saba Farooque, Irfan and Tavis Khan. The CBI had gathered a bagful of technical evidence that nailed the killers. Their movement around Shehla's house was established on the day of the murder, when they had come to Bhopal. Shakib was the first one to be informed by the killers. He called up Zahida to give her the 'good news' and she in turn sent her friend Saba to confirm about it. The timing of the telephone calls fell in place leaving absolutely no scope for doubt. The problem however, was with the motive.

Zahida had not yet been questioned and Shakib had cooked up this story: "I was approached by Zahida to get killers to eliminate Shehla because she suspected her to have an affair with her husband Asad Parvez. I got in touch with Shanoo Olanga and Irfan from Kanpur and the killing was fixed and executed for three lakhs". Irfan was arrested by the UP STF from Kanpur the same night and he cooked up another story. "We killed the girl in Bhopal because we were told that she was of loose character and was doing everything to malign the image of the community and was in touch with anti Muslim forces."

The CBI later realised that both these stories were cooked but by this time the media, hungry for headlines, had already done the damage. The dead can't defend their honour so there is no dearth of those who revel in maligning. Later it so turned out that Shanoo Olanga, an alleged gangster from Kanpur who was killed in a shootout between rival gangs in Kanpur, never came to Bhopal. It was Shaquib's relative Tavis Khan instead.By the time the CBI realized that Shaquib had taken the investigators for a royal ride, he was already in judicial custody and there was no way that they could have interrogated him again.

The CBI, however, had recovered Zahida Parvez's diary by this time. Zahida in her diary had noted everything in detail.The motive was now clear. She suspected that Shehla was coming in between her and Dhruv Narayan Singh, the BJP MLA from Bhopal. The CBI also recovered the DNA of Dhruv Narayan Singh from her office in the form of used condoms that she had meticulously preserved along with the dates when they were used. The CBI also recovered a video CD in which Zahida and Dhruv Narayan Singh are having sex in her office. The recording was discreetly done. The diary notings showed that she was passionate about Dhruv Narayan Singh.

Dhruv Narayan Singh's website describes him as "a twinkling, young & energetic rising star". Coming from a politically powerful, landed family,former Ranji cricketer and son of former state chief minister Govind Narayan Singh, Dhruv Narayan represents Bhopal (Central) constituency that has a sizeable population of Muslims and is in-charge of the BJP’s Minority Cell. He clearly had a unique interpretation of his 'minority outreach' responsibilities.

As chief of the MP tourism board, he brought on Parvez as an empaneled architect despite her lack of qualifications. His position as chairman of the Bhopal Development Authority also yielded a lucrative bounty for Parvez. Singh was no less generous with Masood. According to the Indian Express, her event management company, Miracle, threw a lavish party at a tourism department hotel in Bhopal without paying the Rs 60,000 tab.

On Singh's Facebook photo album, Parvez comments: "sir, photgrphs r as gud as u r." More eerie is Parvez's own FB update, posted in early Feb: "Jaante Hain sab Phir Bhi Anjaan Bante Hain...... Issi tarah Wo Humme Pareshan Karte Hain.... Puchte Hain Hamse Ki Aap Ko Kya Pasand Hai... Khud Jawab Hoker... Sawal Karte Hain..."

The CBI during its investigation has found nothing except the telephone calls that Dhruv Narayan Singh used to make to Shehla and occasional return calls that she used to make to him to establish that Zahida's suspicion was genuine. In fact, on the contrary, certain material evidence has surfaced that suggests that Shehla had nothing to do with Dhruv because of which she could be killed by Zahida. Shehla almost two years before her murder had moved to Delhi and was in a happy relationship. The grey area as to how and why Zahida suspected Shehla still remains.

Presently Zahida Parvez and Saba Farooque are at Indore jail, where they continue with their violent ways. Asad Parvez, the businessman husband of Zahida Parvez has shifted to Mumbai. Although he initially declared that he would stand by the side of Zahida, he soon backed out and took divorce from Zahida. Irfan Ali, one of the key accused, turned government witness and recorded his statement before special CBI court in private. No direct evidence of involvement in the murder has so far been found against the second generation politician, Dhruv Narayan Singh. The CBI has decided not to name him as an accused in the charge sheet.

Sources: 1 , 2