Pankaj 'proud'

DEHRA DUN, JULY 27. Pankaj Singh, who according to police has confessed to the murder of the Samajwadi Party MP, Phoolan Devi, today said he was ``proud'' of gunning down the former bandit queen to avenge the massacre of 22 Thakurs in Behmai.

``I am proud of what I have done. It was in my mind for quite some time. I had also visited Behmai last year and saw the pain and anger on the faces of the widows of the Thakurs who were killed by Phoolan Devi,'' Pankaj told PTI from the cell in the Dalanwala police station here, soon after his arrest.

Pankaj, a graduate from the DAV college this year, said moments after Phoolan alighted from a car at her residence, he fired a shot at her from a country-made pistol. ``She immediately collapsed as the bullet pierced through her stomach. Then, randomly I fired several shots at her,'' he said. ``At this moment, the gunman of Phoolan tried to intervene but was fired upon by my associate Ravinder Kumar,`` he said, adding he later escaped to Hardwar.

Pankaj said it was his long-cherished wish to kill Phoolan Devi and accused her of abusing the senior Samajwadi Party leader, Mr. Amar Singh. ``When I met her in Roorkee, she was abusing Amar Singh Ji. This had really enraged me.''

He said he had two wishes in life - to kill Phoolan and to bring the memorial of the Rajput king, Prithvi Raj Chauhan, from Kandahar in Afghanistan to India.

``My one wish has been fulfilled on Wednesday by killing Phoolan. I hope that the other wish would also be fulfilled.''

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