Order on review petn in Shehla murder case reserved till 21st

All the five accused, including the main accused Zahida Pervez, have sought trial at Bhopal, on the ground that offence had taken place there.

Special Judge Anupam Srivastav heard arguments of both the sides and reserved the order till July 21. The defence has also sought access to reports of polygraph test of BJP MLA Dhruvnarayan Singh, and other documentary evidence.

CBI's special prosecutor Hemant Shukla argued that Indore court was competent enough to conduct the trial.

As to providing access to reports, Shukla said some more time be given to the investigating agency as other reports, including the one from Forensic Laboratory, were awaited.

On June 22, Magistrate Dr Shubhra Singh had rejected these demands, after which the accused filed review petitions.

Shehla, a well-known RTI activist, was shot dead outside her house in Bhopal's Koh-E-Fiza locality on August 16, 2011. According to CBI, Zahida, who had a relationship with Dhruvnarayan Singh, became jealous of Shehla's growing proximity to him, and conspired to kill her.

Advocate Sunil Srivastava, lawyer of co-accused Saba Farooqui, told the court she had a spleen disease and should be exempted from physical work in the Indore jail.

Coming out of the court, Saba told reporters that jail authorities were giving her hard work like cleaning and sweeping floor.

Zahida, who also talked to reporters, wondered why CBI did not produce call details and polygraph test report of Dhruvnarayan (who has been questioned by the CBI in the case, but is not an accused).