Phoolan Devi's killer gets life imprisonment

A court here Thursday sentenced convict Sher Singh Rana to life imprisonment for killing bandit-turned-politician Phoolan Devi in 2001.

Additional Sessions Judge Bharat Parashar awarded life term to Rana and also slapped a fine of Rs.1 lakh on him.

The court Aug 8 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 from the Thakur community.

The court convicted Rana on charges of murder and attempt to murder with common intention.

However, he was acquitted of criminal conspiracy and under the Arms Act.

At the time of her murder, Phoolan Devi, whose dramatic life inspired many books and an internationally acclaimed movie "Bandit Queen", was a Samajwadi Party parliamentarian from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh.

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

Besides Rana, there were 11 other accused in the case. One of them, Pradeep, died of a heart attack in Tihar Jail Nov 2013 and the rest were let off. Rana was arrested July 27, 2001.

However, in 2004, he fled from the high security Tihar Jail. In 2006, he was arrested in Kolkata, brought back to Delhi and lodged again in Tihar Jail.