Prime suspect in Phoolan murder arrested

DEHRA DUN, JULY 27. In a crucial breakthrough in the Phoolan Devi murder case, police here today arrested the prime suspect, Sher Singh Rana alias Pankaj Singh, who is said to have confessed to the crime to avenge the massacre of 22 Thakurs in Behmai by the former `bandit queen' in 1981.

Pankaj, whose car was used by him and his two accomplices, was arrested when he was talking to a group of newspersons at the press club here, the Uttaranchal DGP, Mr. A.K. Sharan, told presspersons.

He said that during interrogation, Pankaj, who runs a liquor shop in the nearby Roorkee town, confessed that he killed Phoolan Devi with a revolver and a country-made pistol at her official residence on Ashoka Road in Delhi on Wednesday. His relative, Ravinder Singh of Meerut, was also involved in the killing, he said.

Pankaj, along with Ravinder, Ms. Uma Kashyap, a political activist, and her husband, Mr. Vijay Kumar, had gone to Delhi from Roorkee on July 25 after systematic planning for two months.

Mr. Sharan quoted Pankaj as having said that moments after Phoolan Devi alighted from a car at her residence, he opened fire on her. Pankaj escaped in his green Maruti car and later took an autorickshaw for the inter-State bus terminus from where he came to Hardwar. He stayed in Hardwar and Rishikesh on Thursday and came to Dehra Dun only this morning. He then went to the Uttaranchal Press Club in Dalanwala area where he narrated the murder to a group of newsmen. Police came to know that Pankaj was in the club and he was arrested around 10 a.m.

In New Delhi, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh, told presspersons that the Samajwadi Party was indulging in ``very cheap politics by trying to cash in on a human tragedy,'' by resorting to violence. ``This (violence by Samajwadi Party workers) shows what cheap and low level politics the party can indulge in,'' he told presspersons here.

He said when the entire incident was being investigated, it was unnecessary to make charges against the Government. Targetting the State Government was wrong since the murder had taken place in the Capital, Mr. Singh, who is in Delhi to attend the national executive of the BJP, said. He criticised the manner in which SP workers broke the nameplate at his residence in Delhi.

The Delhi police said no political link had been found so far in Phoolan's murder. The Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, Mr. K.K. Paul said the police were yet to ascertain the motive behind the killing.

On the Uttaranchal police's claim that Pankaj had confessed to his crime, Mr. Paul said he was aware of such reports in the media but could not confirm it as the Delhi police was yet to interrogate him thoroughly.

- PTI

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