Bhopal architect got Shehla Masood killed, CBI arrested

In a major breakthrough, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested a Bhopal-based architect Zahida Pervez in connection with the murder of RTI activist Shehla Masood in August last year.

Pervez is presently in the CBI custody and is believed to have informed the investigators that she had some personal rivalry with the RTI activist.

Pervez had also confessed before the CBI officials that she had hired a contract killer to get Masood eliminated. However, the person who allegedly shot at the RTI activist was later killed in Kanpur.

The investigations into the murder of the RTI activist was finally transferred to the Delhi branch of the CBI. Prior to that, the murder was being looked into by the Bhopal unit of the central probe agency.

The decision to hand over the case to CBI Delhi office was taken in view of the fact that not much headway was made into the investigations in the case.

The Bhopal Unit of the CBI had begun investigations into the killing on September six.

The Bhopal unit had even announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for anyone giving information leading to the arrest of the assailant(s).

The 32-year-old activist was shot dead in broad daylight in front of her house on August 16 last year, while she was leaving for a campaign of India Against Corruption (IAC). She had, earlier, alleged that she was getting threatening calls.

Shehla was working on several issues including good governance, police reforms, environment, tiger protection, transparency and RTI Act.

The case was given to the CBI three weeks after she was murdered.

Union Law Minister Khurshid: Anna should decide limits of agitation

Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid on Friday said all demands of Anna Hazare on Lokpal Bill "cannot be accepted" and the activist has to decide the "limits" of his exercise.

"We have included all good points (suggested by Team Anna) in the Lokpal Bill. But not everything they say we are in a position to accomodate because a lot of other people think differently," Khurshid told reporters on the sidelines of a conference 'Electoral Reforms in India - The Role of Intellectuals' here.

"Anna Hazare has a role to perform and it is a legitimate exercise, but he has to decide what the limits of exercise are," Khurshid said, adding that the government would not advise him on that front.

Asked whether he would appeal to Hazare to not go on fast from December 27, he replied that personally he would not do so, but would if the government takes a collective decision on the matter. "But there is no such decision taken by the government," he said.

Asked whether the Lokpal Bill undermined the autonomy of the CBI, Khurshid said the government and other investigation agencies, including the Lokpal, would not interfere in the probes conducted by the CBI.

"CBI also must know that they would not do all the investigation themselves, Lokpal would be free to give investigation to any other agency if they wished so," the minister clarified.

"I can assure you more than the CBI, the Law Ministry understands the integrity of the investigation. We have vetted it (Lokpal Bill) very carefully and I don't believe we have any problems with it," he added.

Replying to a question, Khurshid said if corruption is encouraged by elections, as alleged by Hazare, there are ways to contain it.

"We cannot sacrifice democracy at the altar of fight against corruption. We will have to find a combined and convergent method to strengthen democracy and weaken corruption," he said.

Khurshid also appealed to the BJP to play a constructive role in passing the Lokpal Bill in Parliament. "If there are differences between the parties, they must be sorted out," he said.

However, "arguing in front of the media and sharing space at the India Against Corruption platform" was not the best way to go about it, he said.

"They are very experienced leaders. I must not be telling them what should not be done," he said.

Reacting to the BJP charge that Congress "propped up" RJD chief Lalu Prasad for derailing the focus of the Lokpal Bill by welcoming reservation for minority quota, Khurshid said, "It will not be fair to say we have propped up or provoked him.

"Laluji is very strong in his opinions and sometimes they might help the government, but sometimes they might hurt," the minister said. "They are his opinions and I think we should respect everybody's opinions".

Asked about Congress leader Digvijay Singh's stance on attacking Team Anna, Khurshid said the party leader is "a warrior".

Court to decide on Anna's fast venue

Although Anna Hazare appears firm about his plan to go on a hunger strike from December 27, the noted social crusader still remains venue-less for his proposed agitation in Mumbai.

The first choice of Team Anna – decided upon on advice of Mumbai Police – was the MMRDA grounds in Bandra-Kurla complex but given the steep rent of Rs 19 lakhs being demanded by the authorities, the venue has turned out to be ‘too expensive’.

India Against Corruption (IAC) demanded from the state government that a waiver be announced considering the fact that the ground is not being rented out for any ‘commercial’ purpose. Anna’s movement is a people’s movement and hence should qualify for an exemption, IAC asserted.

The IAC, in a statement said, "It appears that the CM is not giving Annaji the exemption for MMRDA. Andolan will be at Azad Maidan. IAC is going ahead with providing intimation to concerned authorities."

Importantly, IAC has filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court against the MMRDA and Maharashtra government for not granting the waiver. MMRDA protests site to be given for agitation beginning December 27.

Anna himself is against a ‘five-star’ protest, hence other options are being looked at.

However, the most feasible other option, Azad Maidan, is also not likely to be made available for Anna’s agitation as some portion of it is under control of the state’s Sports Department. However, further complicating things for Team Anna, the Deputy Director of the Sports Department has denied permission to use the ground for Anna’s fast.

Azad Maidan is also inadequate for Anna’s mass movement since the ground can accommodate only 3000-4000 people as compared to an estimated one lakh people that can easily fit into the MMRDA grounds.

With things not falling in line for Team Anna, the social crusader has warned that he will go to jail and launch his agitation from there if he does not get any suitable venue for his fast.

He also accused the government of deliberately complicating things for Team Anna while speaking to reporters today.

Anna Hazare plans to sit on a fast from Dec 27-29 in Mumbai, while the Parliament in Delhi debates the Lokpal Bill. In the eventuality of the bill not getting passed Anna would head to Delhi and launch a’ jail bharo’ andolan.