Phoolan Devi's murderer gets life imprisonment
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New Delhi: A court here on Thursday sentenced Sher Singh Rana, the convicted in the murder of bandit-turned-politician Phoolan Devi, to life imprisonment.
Earlier, a Delhi court had convicted key accused Sher Singh Rana in the 13-year-old sensational murder of Phoolan Devi in 2001, who was then a Lok Sabha member, in front of her Ashoka Road residence. Sher Singh Rana was convicted for the offences under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 34 (common intention) under the IPC.
The court acquitted Dhan Prakash, Shekhar Singh, Rajbir Singh, Vijay Singh alias Raju (Rana's brother), Rajender Singh alias Ravinder Singh, Keshav Chauhan, Praveen Mittal, Amit Rathi, Surender Singh Negi alias Suri and Sharavan Kumar.
37-year-old Phoolan was shot dead from close range by three masked gunmen in the heart of the capital's VIP area as she returned home for lunch after attending Lok Sabha on July 25, 2001. Delhi Police had chargesheeted 11 men accusing them of eliminating Phoolan to avenge the 1981 Behmai massacre in which she had allegedly killed a number of Thakurs.
Police had said that Rana, the prime accused, wanted to establish himself as a Thakur leader by masterminding the killing and ruled out any other motive behind the murder of the Samajwadi Party MP.
