Dhruv was among Shehla's many friends, says father

The father of murdered RTI activist Shehla Masood's father told a special court here that his daughter had friendship with many persons, including BJP leaders.

The father of murdered RTI activist Shehla Masood's father told a special court here that his daughter had friendship with many persons, including BJP leaders.

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Sultan Masood appeared as a prosecution witness before the CBI court, conducing trial in the last year's murder of the activist, and was cross-examined by two defence counsels for over three-and-half hours on Thursday.

He was in the house when Shehla was shot dead outside her residence in Bhopal on August 16, 2011.

Sultan, who deposed before Judge Anupam Srivastava, was first examined by CBI senior public prosecutor Hemant Shukla and subsequently crossed-examined by AJ Bhojwani and Sunil Srivastava, the counsels for main accused Zahida Pervez and Sabha Farooqui respectively.

During cross-examination, Sultan said her daughter had friendship with many persons, including BJP leaders Dhruvnarayan Singh (MLA) and Tarun Vijay (Rajya Sabha MP).

When insisted by defence counsels to define her ties with the duo, Sultan said Shehla had 'cordial' relations with Singh and 'ghanishth mitrata' (close friendship) with Vijay.

Singh and Vijay's names had cropped up during the CBI probe into the murder case, but the agency gave them clean chit and their names do not figure in the charge sheet.

To another query, Sultan said Singh used to often come to their house for dinner or lunch. But he had not visited her for more than one-and-half year before Shehla's murder.