BJP leader to be questioned in Shehla Masood death probe

As part of the probe into the mysterious killing of Bhopal-based Right to Information activist Shehla Masood, a team of the Madhya Pradesh police is here to question Tarun Vijay, a spokesman of the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Rajya Sabha member.

Vijay, 50, also one of the party’s spokesmen, was among the last few people to have spoken to Masood on telephone, on the day she died, August 16. He has said they were good friends.

Masood had left her home in Bhopal around 11 am to take part in a protest in support of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption agitation. She was found dead in her car, shot, without it having been driven. Vijay had spoken to her around 9:30 am; he has said the topic was the Hazare campaign. The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh has already asked the Union government to transfer the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

“We regularly exchanged notes and the culprits should be booked and hanged. I will provide whatever information I have to all the investigation agencies, because we are as much concerned to get justice for her,” said Vijay. He said Masood headed an event management company which had organised several programmes in different parts of the country on the birth and death anniversaries of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the BJP’s founder. Vijay is also head of a foundation in Mookerjee’s name, considered a party think-tank.

“She had helped us and worked on several projects in Srinagar, Kolkata and New Delhi. She was a brave RTI activist, a very good friend,” he added.