(Top) Bhopal-based architect Zahida Parvez who suspected RTI activist Shehla Masood (below) of having an affair with her husband. File pictures

Bhopal, Feb. 28: A Bhopal-based woman architect has been held in connection with RTI activist Shehla Masood’s murder last year, with the CBI claiming it was the fallout of a suspected extra-marital affair.

According to the agency, Zahida Parvez, a 35-year-old mother of two, suspected her businessman-husband of having an affair with Shehla. Sources said three more persons had been picked up from various parts of Bhopal but their identities were not known.

Shehla, who was single, was found dead in her car outside her Bhopal home on August 16 last year, the day Anna Hazare was held ahead of his fast in Delhi. The 38-year-old had stepped out to join a campaign of Team Anna’s India Against Corruption that morning.

Initially, Shehla’s killing was linked to her RTI campaign and the names of some politicians, including a BJP Rajya Sabha MP, had come under the scanner. But today, both Bhopal police, who carried out the initial investigation, and the CBI said Zahida had a personal enmity with Shehla and hired contract killers to eliminate her. The officials claimed a confessional statement from Zahida and evidence of the payments.

“We spoke to many people, including politicians close to Shehla. After several months, we zeroed in on Zahida. She had a personal grudge against the activist. From her phone records, we found she had spoken to hired killers. We have enough proof she is behind the murder,” said a CBI officer.

But the claims, in a case with no witnesses, took on an intriguing edge after the CBI claimed one of the contract killers, said to be from Kanpur, was bumped off and another man did the job.

Former police officers in Bhopal described the version “unusual”, pointing out that such hired assassins were typical of underworld gangs, not in cases like this.

Shehla’s father Masood Sultan said: “I thank god. I have come to know through media reports. No one has officially told me about the arrest.”

The news of Zahida’s alleged involvement was met with a sense of disbelief, with many in Bhopal wondering if she could have gone to such extent in plotting the murder.

CBI officers had announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for anyone who gave information that helped them crack the case.

Madhya Pradesh’s BJP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan handed over the case to the central agency within a month of the murder following allegations of a cover-up from state Congress leaders.

The killing had sparked outrage, with many rights activists initially suspecting the state’s mining mafia, wildlife poachers, builders, politicians and senior police officers who had faced trouble because of Shehla’s RTI campaign and had allegedly threatened her at some point of time.