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The Delhi police have taken into custody the owner of the autorickshaw which the assailants of Phoolan Devi used to escape on Wednesday afternoon. A passer-by had provided the registration number of the autorickshaw to the police.
"The driver was alone in the rickshaw when the assailants approached him. We are questioning him for possible links," Additional Commissioner of Police (crime) Qamar Ahmad said.
The police have also been successful in tracing the ownership of the getaway Maruti car, CIM 907, to one Deepti Pillai of Indore, who had sold it to Mansur Ahmed, a resident of Haridwar, in July 1999.
The car was brought to Delhi from Roorkee by Uma Kashyap, an Eklavya Sena activist, and her husband Vijay Kumar, who had come to meet Phoolan Devi.
Pankaj, the man who drove Uma Kashyap and her husband to Delhi, had used the same car to drop Phoolan Devi to Parliament on Wednesday morning.
Pankaj is absconding and special teams have been sent to Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal to trace his whereabouts.
The police have also taken into custody Uma Kashyap and her husband, who were present at Phoolan Devi's residence at the time of the murder.
However, they are yet to provide any clues, Qamar Ahmad said.
Ahmad denied reports of any of the assailants being injured in the exchange of fire with the MP's guard.
"Forensic experts did not find any bloodstains in the getaway car. However, the police have found a Webley Scott revolver."
Raghuraj Singh Sakya, an MP from Ittawa in UP, told Parliament on Thursday that he dropped Phoolan Devi at her residence on Wednesday afternoon. The police is yet to speak to him.
Meanwhile, Phoolan Devi's body was flown to Mirzapur, her constituency, for cremation on Thursday. Her security guard, who was critically injured in the shootout, is still not in a position to give a statement to the police.
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