Phoolan Devi murder: Court pulls up policemen for dereliction

A court here pulled up the Delhi Police for shoddy investigation in the 2001 Phoolan Devi murder case after observing that it could not establish the identity of two other accomplices of the prime accused.

Additional Sessions Judge Bharat Parashar Friday convicted Rana -- who gunned down Phoolan Devi, once popularly known as "Bandit Queen" -- to avenge the 1981 Behmai massacre in which she killed 17 people of the high caste Thakur community.

The court made it clear that the murder of Phoolan Devi was executed by Rana with his two aides.

However, it observed that the prosecution could not identity two other accomplices.

"Undoubtedly, I have also observed at a number of places in my present judgment that there were number of such instances where certain important facts were not brought on the file by the investigating agency for reasons best known to them," the court said in a detailed order released Monday.

"However, the question which arises is whether on account of such defective or perfunctory investigation, should the entire prosecution case be thrown overboard?"

"Whether such defective investigation will have the effect of even brushing aside the various important incriminating circumstances which have come on record against accused Sher Singh Rana and which circumstances he has failed to repel by any explanation, much less any plausible explanation in that regard," the court expressed.

Phoolan Devi was shot dead July 25, 2001 outside her Ashoka Road residence in Delhi by Rana and his associates, police said.