Ajay Devgn has a knack for sniffing out unusual roles. And his next is definitely out of the ordinary... Buzz has it that the smouldering actor’s interest has been piqued by the real-life story of Sher Singh Rana. No, the man in question is not a warrior of bygone ages; in fact, he happens to be the man convicted for the assassination of Indian dacoit-turned-parliamentarian Phoolan Devi in 2001!

Sher Singh Rana has had a most eventful life. He had been accused of killing Phoolan Devi at her Delhi residence on July 25, 2001. He went on to escape from Tihar jail in 2004. Post that, he claims to have travelled to Afghanistan to bring the remains of Prithviraj Chauhan, the great 112th-centuryIndian ruler, back to Indian shores. Nabbed again in Kolkata in 2006, he was convicted by the Delhi court in 2014 and is currently out on bail.

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Rana has recounted his experiences in his book Jail Diary: Tihar Se Kabul-Kandahar Tak, on which the film will presumably be based. After Ajay is done with Taanaji: The Unsung Warrior, a biopic on Tanaji Malusare who had served as Shivaji’s brave general in the 17^th century, he will apparently start prep for the unusual Rana biopic. In fact, he might even produce the film himself.

Sher Singh Rana had hit the headlines for being the prime suspect in the Phoolan Devi assassination case. On 25 July 2001, the reformed dacoit turned politician was shot dead by three masked gunmen outside of her Delhi bungalow. She was hit five times and the gunmen fled the scene in a Maruti car. She was taken to a nearby hospital but was declared dead. Sher Singh Rana (alias Pankaj Singh) later surrendered to the police. He claimed to have murdered Phoolan Devi in revenge for the men she gunned down in the Behmai massacre.

Like we said, an unusual choice!