New Delhi: A Delhi court today declined to entertain a plea of Sher Singh Rana, prime accused in the Phoolan Devi murder case, seeking transfer of his trial to another court.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) V K Bansal -- whom he accused of adopting "coercive measures" in recording statement of witnesses by Rana -- went ahead with the trial and fixed the hearing in bandit-turned-politician's murder on March 13. Rana, whose plea for transfer of trail was yesterday rejected by Patiala House Courts judge-in-charge Mamta Sehgal, made a similar demand before the trial court, which asked him to move his application before the district judge.

"I am giving you time till March 13. You can move your application through your counsel before the district judge," ASJ Bansal said on Rana's plea to refer the transfer matter to the district judge. The Judge-in-charge had remanded the matter to the court of ASJ Bansal, who was conducting the trial in the case.

Rana, later joined by four accused Dharam Prakash, Sharwan, Vijay and Shekhar, had on February 19 sprung a surprise by telling the trial court judge, ASJ Bansal, that they did not trust him. Meanwhile, the court issued a bailable warrant against Keshav Chauhan and the sum of Rs 5,000 and a production warrant against Rajender for March 13 as both the accused were not present before it.

Rana, along with 11 others, had allegedly conspired to kill Phoolan to avenge the 1981 Behmai massacre, in which she killed 17 people, all belonging to a particular caste. The MP was murdered outside her Ashoka Road residence here on July 25, 2001.

Source : PTI