Masked gunmen killed India's ``Bandit
Queen,'' Phoolan Devi, outside her home in Delhi on Wednesday, ending a
turbulent life that began in poverty and rape, turned into a
quest for revenge and wound up in parliament.
But Phoolan Devi's neighbours remember her as an everyday woman
taking her pet Great Dane for a walk and buying vegetables from
pushcart vendors.
In south Delhi's Chittaranjan Park -- where she lived for a few
years before moving into the official residence allotted to her
as an MP -- Phoolan Devi was fondly referred to as didi
(elder sister).
London-based writer Mala Sen who wrote the biography of Phoolan
Devi, a
 product of painstaking research which culminated in her
book -- India's Bandit Queen: The True Story of Phoolan Devi
-- described Devi's brutal murder as a "death
foreseen". Speaking to Times Internet Network from her
Mumbai residence, Sen said that Devi used to tell her about the
threat to her life even during her stay in the Gwalior jail.
"Phoolan had a premonition about her death. She would often
tell me that they won't leave her alone, referring to the
Thakurs of Behmai. I used to scold her for saying all these
things. Later, even she realised that she cannot leave in
constant fear. Therefore, she chose to lead a normal life,"
Sen said.
Police sources in Varanasi confirmed that Phoolan Devi
"could have been perceiving a threat" and had applied
for license for a pistol last month.
The real life heroine of the eponymous Bandit Queen
(movie) had long since quit her life of crime and her years of
redemption when the books were written and the movie made.
Devi, 37, was shot by three gunmen who pumped six bullets
into her when she got out of her car and was about to enter her
house in the high-security heart of the Indian capital Delhi.
 Sudden
killing of Phoolan Devi has sent shock waves in Kanpur and its
adjoining areas which were witness to her beguiling criminal and
political regime. Vijay Narain Singh Senger, lawyer of Behami
massacre victims, ruled out involvement of Behmai victims in the
killing of Phoolan Devi and claimed that victims had never taken
any vow to kill Phoolan. Senger said: "Behmai victims
wanted justice ... but they had never thought of killing
Phoolan". He apprehended that political rivalry might be
the reason behind Phoolan's murder.
The Delhi Police is close to
zeroing in on Pankaj, the prime suspect in the murder of Phoolan
Devi. According to the police, Phoolan Devi was dropped at
Parliament by Pankaj, the god-brother of Uma Kashyap - a close
associate of the Samajwadi MP.
Phoolan was dropped at Parliament in the same car which was
later used by the assailants to escape after committing the
daring and sensational murder.
The three masked killers of "bandit queen" Phoolan
Devi are believed to have met her earlier in the day. The
killers, who were hooded when they shot the MP dead outside her
official residence on Wednesday, reportedly spoke to her
pretending to be members of her Samajwadi Party. They talked to
her in the drawing room, according to reports.
Police sources said they had also not been able to question
Phoolan’s husband Umaid Singh in spite of some obviuous
inaccuracies in his various statements to the media. Phoolan is
believed to have had an estranged relationship with her husband.
He might be questioned upon his return from Mirzapur after the
cremation of the Samjwadi Party MP.
PHOOLAN DEVI did not trust anyone - her gang members, her
lawyers or even her husband. She lived life entirely on her own
instinct. Perhaps that is why no one could fool her or take her
for granted even though she was illiterate and had not lived a
settled life. Even while listening to a legal contract she could
identify that one single word that could create trouble later
and ask for a detailed explanation.
CRIME AND FAME
 Devi, one of India's best-known women, was adored by
thousands of lower-caste Hindus in the northern Indian state of
Uttar Pradesh, whose interests she represented in the country's
parliament.
The short and stocky Devi was portrayed in the 1994 film
''Bandit Queen'' as a rape victim from a low-caste community of
boatmen whose career of crime began as a quest for revenge
against her attackers.
Devi rose to notoriety in 1981 when 22 upper-caste men were
massacred in the Uttar Pradesh village of Behmai. She denied
leading the killers but surrendered to police in the central
state of Madhya Pradesh in 1983.
When she was released on parole in 1994 other charges against
her in Uttar Pradesh were dropped, and she joined the regional
Samajwadi Party, which represents low castes.
Devi, a feisty, blunt-spoken public speaker who drew large
crowds, became a member of the lower house of parliament in
1996, was defeated in 1998 elections and made a comeback in
1999.
Indian President K.R. Narayanan said he heard of Devi's death
with utter shock and condemned the ``cowardly and gruesome
act.''
``Her life was a story of rebellion and successful defiance
against oppression and exploitation,'' Narayanan said in a
statement. ``Having braved the prejudices that an orthodox
society heaps on a woman: poor, backward and a social outcast,
she rose to become a member of parliament in her own right.''
MURDER AHEAD OF ELECTIONS
Her murder came as political parties were gearing up for
legislative assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, which are
likely to be held before the end of this year.
Devi's party colleagues said they were aghast by her killing
and slammed the state government which had recently scaled down
the security provided to politicians.
``There seems to be a political design behind her killing as
it comes hardly a few months before elections,'' senior
Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh told reporters as his party
called for a general strike in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.
Uttar Pradesh -- India's most populous state -- is currently
ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Analysts say the Samajwadi Party and others could oust the
BJP in the politically important Hindi heartland state.
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