Masood murder case: Accused trio remanded to judicial custody

Indore, Mar 13: A special CBI court on Tuesday remanded three accused, including the city-based interior designer Zahida Pervez, to judicial custody till March 26 in connection with the murder of RTI activist Shehla Masood.

The special CBI court of Judicial Magistrate Dr Subhra Singh sent Zahida, her assistant Saba Farooqui and contract killer Shakib 'Danger', allegedly hired by the prime accused to execute the murder, on the 14-day judicial remand, senior Public Prosecutor Hemant Shukla told media persons.

The court also asked Zahida and Saba to record their statements under section 164 of CrPC tomorrow as they had refused to undergo a lie detector test, while the third accused Shakib has sought ten-day time to record his statement, he said.

Shukla said Zahida and Saba would be lodged in Indore's district jail, while Squib in the Central Jail. Earlier, the accused were brought here from Bhopal under high security for the hearing. Zahida is accused of plotting the murder allegedly over the slain activist's growing "closeness" to BJP MLA Dhruv Narayan Singh who was also grilled by the CBI.

Shehla was shot dead outside her residence on Aug 16, 2011 in posh Koh-e-Fiza locality in Bhopal.

PTI