One more arrest in Shehla case, call details nail Parvez's role

New Delhi: Saba Farooqui, a close friend of architect Zahida Parvez, was today arrested in connection with the murder of RTI activist Shehla Masood by the CBI which claimed to have got “clinching evidence” of Parvez’s alleged involvement through call details and her seized diary. The agency believes that the murder was purportedly triggered by Parvez’s obsession with a BJP MLA who was also close to Masood. “She (Farooqui) is believed to be a friend of the alleged conspirator in the killing and is understood to be aware of the crime and believed to be assisting in the conspiracy,” CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra said. [caption id=“attachment_232610” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“CBI claims to have got “clinching evidence” of Parvez’s alleged involvement in Shehla murder through call details and her seized diary. PTI”]  [/caption] Mishra said the accused will be produced in the designated Court at Indore on Saturday. The agency searched Parvez’s home yesterday where it recovered a diary in which investigators found a crucial entry on the date 16 August, the day Masood was murdered at around 11.15 am outside her home, CBI sources said here. Parvez in her own handwriting had noted in the diary, “I was depressed. Saquib had called around 11.15. He said ‘mubarak ho. Ghar ke samne kaam ho gaya’”, they said. In the evening, Parvez is said to have celebrated with Farooqui, sources said. The sources said that the agency found a streak of Parvez’s obsession with the BJP MLA whom she was very close to, and this had resulted in resentment for Masood who was also his good friend. The entry with regard to the alleged mobile call made soon after the Masood’s murder was corroborated by call details of Saquib Ali, a friend of Parvez who is said to have hired the killers, CBI said. CBI had found that seven minutes after Masood was shot dead outside her house in Bhopal, at 11.22 am, shooter Shanu had called Saquib and at 11.26 am, Saquib had called Parvez, purportedly to inform her about the killing. During the questioning of the accused - Farooqui, Saquib and Parvez - sleuths found that Parvez was so obsessed with the MLA that she had kept one office staff just for monitoring his movements and analysing call details through his bills, sources said. One entry in the diary on 15 August - a day before the RTI activist was killed - refers to the MLA (with his name) saying he “did not speak to me for two three days but made a call to Shehla for half an hour,” CBI said. CBI had found that Parvez and Masood knew each other and it was former who had introduced the activist with the MLA. Sources said Parvez who was an architect-cum-interior designer allegedly came into contact with the MLA in 2007 and developed an intimate relationship with him as the politician frequented her office. Parvez kept ‘a close eye’ on the alleged friendship between Masood and the politician and allegedly went to an extent of trailing him along with her friend Farooqui. It was during one such surveillance that she found that the MLA had visited Masood’s house and spent about half an hour there, CBI sources said. It was during May 2011 that she got introduced to Saquib Ali who had come to collect payments on behalf of one of his clients, they said. Finding him useful, Parvez allegedly developed close friendship with Saquib as well and asked him to kill Masood for her as she was an irritant for her business, CBI said. Sources said Saquib is believed to have told her that he would not do the job but knew some people who could do it. He hired two Kanpur killers - Shanu, believed to have been killed in November last year, and Irfan, arrested by the UP Special Task Force - for Rs 3 lakh of which Rs 2 lakh were already paid, they said. CBI sources said although the MLA was a suspect, no evidence of him being linked to the crime has so far emerged. They said further investigation was on and the MLA could be questioned, if the probe warrants. They said agency has also ruled out the role of Parvez’s husband Asad in the crime. PTI