Anna supporter and RTI activist Shehla Masood shot dead in Bhopal

The motive and details of the killing are awaited,he said adding a hunt had been launched to nab the assailant.

Shehla,who sat on a fast here recently in support of Anna Hazare’s ‘India Against Corruption’ campaign had also been working on a number of other things including wildlife conservation. She was actively involved in raising issues related to the deaths of tigers in the various sanctuaries of Madhya Pradesh.

Known to be a hard worker,Shehla also ran a company called ‘Miracles’ which used to do various things including event management.

Meanwhile,a pall of gloom descended on the residence of the slain 32-year-old activist,who according to her aged aunt Rubab Zaidi was entering her car to leave for office when she was shot by a person.

She said when the car did not drive away,she came down from her house and found Shehla slumped inside.

Zaidi then called Shehla’s father who found she had been shot. Shehla’s body has been sent for postmortem even as police has seized the car and locked her room inside her residence.

Shehla was unmarried and her only sister lives in the United States.

The aunt further said people who knew the activist were aware she was a hard-working lady who would spare no effort to raise issues which affected the common man.

Zaidi also said she could not discern any motive for the murder as Shehla was not known to have enmity with anyone.

Madhya Pradesh Director-General of Police S K Raut visited the residence of Shehla and spoke with her relatives. The police were deployed at her residence and those present included IG Shailendra Shrivastava and SSP Adarsh Katiyar.

Shrivastava expressed confidence that Shehla’s killer would soon be apprehended. “I am sure the murderer will be found soon,” he said.

Also,Leader of Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly,Ajay Singh said here today the murder in broad daylight only indicated that law and order in the state capital had collapsed totally.

“The fact that a lady can be murdered like this in broad daylight outside her own house shows there is no security worth its name in Bhopal,” Singh told PTI.