Bhopal, August 17 (Parvez Bari): As she sat behind the wheel of her car to drive to an Anna Hazare protest meet, Muslim wildlife activist Shehla Masood, who had filed at least 40 Right to Information applications involving forest and police officers, was fatally shot by an unidentified assassin outside her home on Tuesday. The 35-year-old resident of Bhopal’s Koh-e-Fiza neigbourhood was shot in her chest and until late night police remained clueless about her killer though suspicion fell on tiger poachers she had sought to expose in her campaigns.
Witnesses found Masood slumped over the steering wheel, blood oozing from her chest. No gunshot was heard, which has led the cops to surmise that the killer used a silencer. Masood got out around 11:30am and when the car didn’t start for a while after she had left, her father came out to see if there was anything wrong. “She has been murdered. She was a daring girl who raised many issues through RTI. She’s a martyr,” said her father Masood Siddiqui, a retired government officer.
According to police she was shot dead at about 11.30 am (IST) when Ms Shehla, was leaving for her office from her residence in posh Koh-e-Fiza facility in her car. She was found slumped in the driver seat by her relatives with bullets piercing her neck. According to her aged aunt Rubab Zaidi was entering her car to leave for office when she was shot by a person.
She said when the car did not drive away, she came down from her house and found Shehla slumped inside. Zaidi then called Shehla’s father who found she had been shot. She was rushed to hospital where doctors declared her brought dead.
Shehla, in her late thirties, was unmarried and her only sister lives in the United States. She was living with her father Masood Sultan and her aunt Rubab Zaidi at Koh-e-Fiza house.
She was laid to rest at Bada Bagh burial ground here late on Tuesday night. A number of friends, relatives, social workers and eminent citizens attended the funeral.
Shehla, who sat on a fast here recently in support of Anna Hazare’s “India Against Corruption” campaign had also been working on a number of other things including wildlife conservation. She was actively involved in raising issues related to the deaths of tigers in the various sanctuaries of Madhya Pradesh.
The motive behind the killing could not be ascertained behind this gruesome murder. However, it is believed that her campaign against the corrupt practices of bureaucrats, top police officials and politicians made her to pay with her life.
According to Mufti Arsh Shariff, a cousin of Ms Shehla Masood, revealed that she had got a threatening call from a Delhi number on Monday night.
Ms Shehla was sore in the eyes of some bureaucrats, politicians, and industrialist of the State, as she had become very powerful as whistleblower. She had filed RTI queries against 19 IAS (Indian Administrative Service), 13 IFS (Indian Forest Service) and seven IPS (Indian Police Service), sources revealed. Some of mining mafias of the State also had grudges against her since she was working against them for longer time.
Social activist Ajay Dubey demanded probe by Central Bureau of Investigation, (CBI), India’s premier investigating agency, into the murder of Ms Shehla. He expressed doubt that since she had raised questions regarding several tiger deaths across the state forest officials who were involved in the racket may have got her killed. (pervezbari@eth.net)
In recent weeks, she had complained to the police and district officials about harassment and threats after she began pursuing the death of a tigress in Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh national park. Some friends of the activist who was prolific on facebook and twitter suspect her work in exposing illegal diamond mining in Chhatarpur in MP could also have led to her murder.
The police have taken her mobile phone and laptop and also sealed her office in MP Nagar where she had her RTI office. As a conservation activist, Masood was a relentless warrior against tiger poaching in Bandhavgarh. She had written on the death of a tigress there known as Jhurjhuria Tigress after her territory. The big cat was apparently run over by a vehicle inside the park and Shehla was pursuing the case in court.
The crime scene suggested the hand of a professional. The gun’s make and the number of shots fired will be known only after an autopsy. Police refused to be drawn into suggesting a motive. “There are many theories but it’s too early to say anything as the post-mortem report is awaited,” said SSP Adarsh Katiyar.
Parvez Bari with agency inputs