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Onkar Singh in New Delhi
The prime suspect in the Phoolan Devi murder case Sher Singh Rana alias Pankaj was arrested by the Uttaranchal police on Friday in Dehradun and he has admitted to killing Phoolan Devi.
The Uttaranchal Director General of Police, A K Saran, confirmed that Sher Singh Rana alias Pankaj was arrested from Dehradun Press Club, where he was going to address a press conference.
"We got to know that he was planning to hold a press conference before surrendering in the court, therefore we posted our men in front of the Dehradun press club and soon as he arrived, we arrested him," Saran said.
"The arrest was made at 1030 am (IST) on Friday and a team of Uttaranchal officers are interrogating Sher Singh alias Pankaj," Saran told rediff.com.
Saran also confirmed that Sher Singh is claiming that he had killed Phoolan Devi.
"Since we are still in the process of interrogating him, we cannot confirm his claims as yet. This man (Pankaj) came from New Delhi on Thursday. He first went to Roorkee and then came to Dehradun, where he stayed overnight," Saran said.
He will be brought to Delhi on a transit remand, said Saran.
"I have spoken to the Police Commissioner of New Delhi, Ajay Raj Sharma. A team of Delhi Police is arriving in Dehradun to take him to New Delhi," Saran added.
Saran also said he will be holding a press conference later on Friday afternoon to give details of the arrest.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police Additional Commissioner (Crime Branch) Qamar Ahmed said the police might also question Umed Singh, husband of Phoolan Devi.
Phoolan, according to her advocate Kamini Jaiswal, was having a strained relationship with Umed Singh.
He added the police was also questioning the Kashyap couple from Roorkee who had come to see Phoolan Devi on the day of the crime and was there when three masked men shot her from close range at the gate of her residence on Ashoka road.
Incidentally Uma Kashyap had been chargesheeted in a murder case of a dalit youth in Bhengidi.
The information provided by Bhadhur Singh, driver of the three wheeler in which the criminals managed to escape has helped the Delhi police in getting some vital clues.
"We are working on the information provided by him," said Qamar Ahmed.
Bhadhur Singh told the police that while one of the killers got down barely a kilometre away from the scene of the crime, the other two got down in front of the Supreme Court and took a bus heading for opposite direction.
Complete coverage of the Phoolan Devi murder case
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