Hours before she was to lead a campaign in support of Anna Hazare in Bhopal,where she had threatened to make public names of some corrupt officials,RTI activist Shehla Masood was shot dead outside her home today. Masood,who was in her late 30s,was found slumped in her car around 11.30 am by her aunt,who came to check why she hadnt driven away despite leaving her home at Koh-e-Fiza locality of Bhopal several minutes earlier. SSP Adarsh Katiyar said there were no eyewitnesses and nobody had heard a weapon being fired. There was a single wound just below the neck. It was too early to speculate on the motive for the murder or whether the assailant was a professional shooter,the police said. I met her around 10.45 am at the house,and she was working on a laptop and appeared to be in a hurry, said her maternal uncle S A Zaidi. She was to lead a campaign in support of Hazare around 2 pm. Zaidi told The Indian Express that Masoods father,a retired government librarian,had told the police about a complaint she had filed against an IPS officer,alleging a threat to her life. In January 2010,Masood had written to the then DGP,saying the officer was harassing her. She had reportedly not been paid for the events she staged for a cultural body the officer headed. The letter,copies of which were marked to the chief minister,home minister and law minister,alleged that her complaint was not being taken seriously. An event manager turned RTI activist,Masood had filed several applications under the Act over the past few years,aimed at bureaucrats and IPS officers.
