Testifying as the 170th witness in the nine-year-old bandit-turned-politician Phoolan Devi murder case, Suresh Kaushik, an investigating officer (IO) in the case, told the court of additional sessions judge S.C. Rajan that the prime accused Sher Singh Rana had allegedly killed Phoolan to avenge the 1981 Behmai massacre in which she and her gang had murdered 17 people belonging to an upper caste.
Mr Kaushik said the accused, Rana, wanted to become a “hero” in his community by avenging the killings of 17 men of the Thakur caste by the bandit-turned-politician. The Samajwadi Party MP was allegedly gunned down outside her 44, Ashoka Road residence on July 25, 2001.
The witness, who had quizzed the accused just after the incident, told the court that he had recovered two countrymade pistols from a garage of Phoolan’s official residence here.
The recording of evidence of Mr Kaushik will continue on August 3, as the deposition remained inconclusive. The prosecution claimed that Rana, along with 11 of his associates, had allegedly conspired to kill Phoolan to avenge the Behmai massacre.
Notably, a few of the prosecution witnesses, including Phoolan’s sister Munni Devi and her private secretary Kalicharan, earlier turned hostile in the case.
Besides Rana, other accused are Rajbir, Ravinder, Dharam Prakash, Sharwan, Vijay, Shekhar, Praveen Mittal, Amit Rathi, Vijay Rana, Pradeep and Surender. They have been booked under various penal provisions dealing with murder, attempt to murder, destruction of evidence, criminal conspiracy and procuring and using illegal firearms, for their varying roles in the offence.