BHOPAL/NAGPUR: As she sat behind the wheel of her car to drive to an Anna Hazare protest meet, 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.
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.