India's famed "bandit queen" Phoolan Devi, whose life as an outlaw-turned-politician was immortalised in books and film, was shot dead outside her official residence in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Devi, 38, was shot in the head by three masked gunmen at around 1:20 pm (0750 GMT) as she got out of her car on her return from the morning session of parliament, police said.
"The gunmen were in a Maruti car and sped off after the shooting," said Joint Commissioner of Police Mazwell Pereirra.
He said Devi's bodyguard was also hit.
"They were chased by traffic police but managed to escape after abandoning the car two kilometres (1.25 miles) away," Pereirra said.
The lower-caste Samajwadi Party MP, who allegedly gunned down 22 high-caste Hindus in 1981 to avenge her gang rape, was pronounced dead on arrival at Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia hospital.
"She was shot four or five times and most of her head was blown off," an assistant medical superintendent at the hospital told AFP.
"She was dead when she was brought in," he added.
Devi was part of India's bandit folklore, with her life on the run in the ravines of central India's Hindu heartland of Madhya Pradesh in the early 1980s the subject of numerous films and books -- notably Shekhar Kapur's 1996 movie "Bandit Queen".
Born into a poor family from the low-caste Mallah community of river boatmen, Devi was married off at the age of 11 to a man more than 20 years her senior.
She ran away from her abusive husband after a few months and was abducted several years later by lower-caste bandits who roamed the lawless Chambal Ravines in Madhya Pradesh state.
While never denying her years with the bandits, Devi always claimed she never killed anyone.
She surrendered to police in 1983 and was jailed. In 1994 she was released without ever having been tried.
Devi returned to the spotlight when she successfully contested the low caste-dominated Mirzapur constituency in northern Uttar Pradesh state in 1996 elections. She lost the seat in 1998 but won it back in fresh elections the following year.
When news of her shooting reached parliament, MPs in the lower house stood in silence as a mark of respect and then adjourned.
Devi had recently requested a licence to carry firearms, saying she had received death threats from contractors regarding the issuing of tenders for development projects.
The request was denied by police on account of her past criminal record.
Samajwadi Party officials blamed the government for failing to ensure adequate protection for Devi.
"This is a conspiracy by the government at central and state level, that they allowed such a lapse in security of a prominent person like her, who was obviously at risk," said senior party leader Amar Singh.
Party worker Keshav Chauhan, who witnessed the killing, confirmed Devi was hit several times.
"She was shot in the head and her bodyguard was hit in the stomach. We got her to hospital as quickly as we could but she was already dead," Chauhan said.
Medical officials described the bodyguard's condition as critical.
Angry Samajwadi Party gathered outside the hospital, chanting "blood for blood" and calling on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Home Minister L.K. Advani to resign over the shooting -- NEW DELHI (AFP)
Advani later visited the hospital where Devi's body was being kept, as did her distraught husband Ummaid Singh, who had to be supported by friends as he collapsed inside the hospital entrance.
Mayawati, leader of the lower-caste Bahujan Samaj Party, was equally critical of the authorities.
"If the central government and the Uttar Pradesh government had provided her adequate security, which she deserved as her life was in grave danger, I don't think she would have been killed in this fashion," Mayawati said.
"The government should appoint a high-level inquiry to look into this," she added.
"We are all shocked," said Oscar Fernandes, a senior leader of the main opposition Congress party
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