According to eyewitnesses, Zahida Parvez, who was brought to the special CBI court from an Indore jail for a hearing in the matter, went to the coffee shop to have a cup of tea and was spotted chatting with the two policewomen.
Zahida spent about 20 minutes there and was not handcuffed, they said.
A video purportedly showing Zahida in a 'leisurely' mood, sipping tea at the coffee shop on the court premises also cropped up on social media.
Law expert Ashish Choubey said 'special treatment' meted out to Zahida was against the provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and it shows laxity on the part of police.
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Shehla was shot dead on August 16, 2011 in Bhopal.
Prime accused Zahida was charged for hiring professional killers to murder the RTI activist.
Zahida is charged of conspiring Shehla's murder out of jealousy as the latter had reportedly developed closeness with then BJP MLA Dhruv Narayan Singh.