Sher Singh Rana

Sher Singh Rana is a convicted assassin responsible for the 2001 vendetta-related assassination of Indian dacoit-turned-parliamentarian Phoolan Devi.[1]In August 2014, Rana was sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine of ₹100,000 (approximately US$1,600) for Devi's assassination, as well as charges of conspiracy, after a 10-year trial.[2]

Early Life

Sher Singh Rana was born in Roorkee,Uttarakhand, India.[3]

Phoolan Devi assassination

Rana, along with two other men, murdered Phoolan Devi outside her home in New Delhi. At the time of her assassination, Phoolan Devi was a sitting Member of Parliament in the 13th Lok Sabha. Rana claims he was motivated to take revenge upon her for her actions as a leader of a bandit gang that acted primarily against the higher castes in the late 1970s and early 1980s.[4][5]

Escape from Tihar Jail

Rana reportedly said that after escaping from the jail on 17 February 2004 with the help of a friend Sandeep, who in the guise of a policeman pretended to take Rana to a Hardwar court. he went to Moradabad and checked into a hotel. He then contacted relatives who sent him ₹1 lakh through Sandeep. From Ranchi he applied for a passport in the name of Sanjay Gupta.

During the two-month wait for the passport, he visited Gaya and Benaras, where he met his "financer" Subhash Thakur, who was then lodged in a local jail. Rana then went to Kolkata, where he obtained a three-month Bangladesh visa. Rana claimed that he took a house for rent at Khulna and lived there, posing as Sanjay. After he fled to Bangladesh, he bought a satellite phone for ₹16,500 so that he could contact his relatives and friends without being tracked. Throughout his journey — from Moradabad to Ranchi, Kolkata, Bangladesh and Dubai to Afghanistan, — he kept getting about ₹15,000 to ₹20,000 per month as personal expense allegedly from the accomplices of an Uttar Pradesh-based criminal Subhash Thakur. He visited Kolkata often to get his visa extended. At times, he did this in Dhaka.

Abscondence and controversies

Later, he illegally travelled from Dhaka to Dubai. He was later glorified by the Hindu Kshatriya Sena.[6]

Release

A trial court in January 2012 allowed Sher Singh Rana, to file his nomination papers from Tihar to contest Uttar Pradesh assembly election.[7]

The Delhi High Court has granted bail to Sher Singh Rana and he was released on 24 October 2016.

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References
  1. "Phoolan Devi's killer arrested in Kolkata". The Times Of India. 25 April 2006.
  2. "Killer of Phoolan Devi, India's 'Bandit Queen', given life sentence". The Guardian. 14 August 2014.
  3. "कौन है फूलन का क़ातिल शेर सिंह राणा". BBC News हिंदी (in Hindi). Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  4. "Man arrested for murder of 'Bandit Queen'". The Telegraph. London. 27 July 2001. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  5. "Profile of Sher Singh Rana". Times of India. 27 July 2001. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  6. Pandey, Sidharth (8 August 2014). "Phoolan Devi Murder Case: Main Accused Sher Singh Rana Found Guilty". NDTV. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  7. "Phoolan 'killer' to fight UP polls from Tihar". The Times Of India. 25 January 2012.
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