The Bharatiya Janata Party's MP and spokesman Tarun Vijay, a former editor of RSS mouthpiece 'Panchjanya', was on Thursday questioned by police in connection with the broad daylight murder of Bhopal-based RTI activist Shehla Masood in front of her house on August 16 within two hours of his mysterious call to her.

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh was quick to give it a political colour, demanding a CBI probe while Tarun Vijay, MP from Uttarakhand, rebutted telling him not to play politics on the ghastly tragedy that befell her family. Asserting that he too was stunned and shocked, Tarun said: "We want justice for Shehla and we will pursue it vigorously."

He came on the Bhopal police scanner from the mobile records of Shehla showing that he had a phone conversation with the activist on August 15 night and again in the morning just before she was shot dead. A police team is coming here to quiz him as he may be able to provide some lead to solve the murder mystery.

Shehla, a young anti-corruption crusader and RTI actvist, was shot in the neck outside her home in the Koh-e-Fiza area of Bhopal. She headed Madhya Pradesh chapter of the India Against Corruption group of Gandhian crusader Anna Hazare and she had joined his first fast in Delhi in April.

GRAFT DISCLOSURE SILENCED

Just a day before her murder, she had announced to expose widespread corruption in the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh and that she had several vital documents to back her claims. Tarun rang her up that night, apparently concerned since any allegations made by her will reflect on his party's government.

Police will question him from two angles: Any offer or threat made to the activist in the phone call on August 16 to desist from her threatened exposure of corruption and her gunning down on two hours later and she had shared any information with the BJP MP on threat to her life. Police became suspicious why Tarun kept quiet after her murder and did not come forward to volunteer information that can help in solving the case.

Tarun Vijay admitted to the Media at the BJP headquarters here that he did have a telephonic conversation with her at 9.30 am on the day of the murder "about Anna's arrest, about the movement and about demonstrations", but refused to go into the details, saying he was "not taking questions because the investigations are on".

READY TO COOPERATE

He said he would cooperate in the investigations. "We will provide all the information to the investigating agencies. Whatever information we have will be shared with the agencies. We also want justice for Shehla," he said, while describing her as "a very good friend" with whom he had worked on many projects in Srinagar, Kolkata and New Delhi and regularly exchanged notes with her. "We stand by the family going through very difficult time," he added.

Congress leader Digvijay Singh has demanded a CBI probe, saying the circumstances in which Shehla was murdered in the VIP area are suspicious and Tarun Vijay should himself demand such a probe to clear his name.

"Now that Tarun Vijay's name has come up in this case, I think Tarun Vijay and the chief minister both should hand over the case to CBI," Singh told reporters. "It is a brutal murder. The way Shehla Masood was murdered, it is in fact very sad. And it is very surprising that this killing took place during the daytime between 1 am and noon in a locality where VIPs stay," he said.

Another Congress general secretary B K Hariprasad, in charge of Madhya Pradesh affairs in the AICC, also backed his demand for the CBI probe. "In BJP ruled states, RTI activists are being attacked. This is really sad. CBI should probe the case. Everything needs to be clarified," he added.