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Phoolan Devi's nephew Vivek Kumar was in the house when the dacoit-turned-politician was gunned down at the gate of their Ashoka Road residence in New Delhi. He spoke to rediff.com correspondent Basharat Peer just hours after the gruesome murder. A first-person account:
It was around 1.30 pm when I heard gun shots. I came rushing out and found Phoolan Didi and her personal security officer Balwindar Singh lying in a pool of blood. From a distance, I saw a profusely bleeding Balwindar Singh firing at the assailants.
I was completely stunned by the developments. I tried to stop the flow of blood from Didi's forehead with my kerchief, but that did not help. I looked around...there was nobody. The assailants had fled.
Soon, Didi's sister joined me at the gate. She broke down when she saw Didi'd blood-splattered body. The ambulance arrived some 20 minutes after I called them.
She had lost a lot of blood by then. We just could not stem the flow.
In the morning, Didi had said she wanted to go to a temple. She did not mention receiving any threats.
Before we reached Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, she was dead.
[At this point Vivek Kumar began sobbing uncontrollably and the conversation was terminated.]
The Phoolan Devi Murder: Complete Coverage
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