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Indian Parliamentarian Shot Dead in Daylight
A member of the Indian parliament was shot dead here around lunch time Wednesday from close range by three unknown masked gunmen, Home Minister L. K. Advani announced in the parliament.
Phoolan Devi, also a leader of the Samajwadi Party, or Socialist Party, slumped outside her residence in center New Delhi as five bullets were pumped into her around 1.30 p.m. local time by the assailants, who had been lying in wait in a car.
Phoolan Devi and her guard, who was wounded in the gunfire, were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was declared "brought dead" by doctors, Advani told the parliament, which was on session to discuss India's relations with Pakistan.
The killers drove away in the car bearing a fake number, which they abandoned shortly after and escaped in a taxi.
Phoolan Devi, 38, who had been well known as "bandit queen" in the north state of Uttar Pradesh, struck terror for over a decade before she entered politics in 1996 and became a member of parliament in the same year.
Born in 1963 in Uttar Pradesh, Phoolan spent 13 years in an out of various prisons since 1981.
Both houses of parliament, which observed a minute of silence in memory of Phoolan Devi, were adjourned for the day as a mark of respect to her.
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