Devendra Pandey was an Indian politician affiliated with the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

, who served as a

Member of Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several national ...

(MLA) twice from Jaisinghpur Legislative Assembly from 1980 to 1985 and 1985 to 1989. He also served as the

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

State

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

of the

. He died on 23 September 2017 at the age of 67. Pandey came into the limelight in 1978, when he hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 410, en-route on a domestic flight from

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

with the help of a toy gun in protest against the arrest of

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

. In the plane hijack case, he was imprisoned in Lucknow jail for nine months and 28 days. Later, when the Congress government came to power, on the instructions of the then Prime Minister

, the government withdrew the case against him in 1980. Devendra Pandey was close to

and

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian statesman and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the Assassination of Indira Gandhi, assassination of his mother, then–prime ...

. After the death of Indira Gandhi,

also gave the assembly ticket to Devendra Pandey in 1985 and 1989. In 1985, Devendra again won the assembly, but in 1989 he lost the election.

Posts held

References

Uttar Pradesh MLAs 1980–1985 Uttar Pradesh MLAs 1985–1989 Indian National Congress politicians from Uttar Pradesh 2017 deaths {{UttarPradesh-INC-politician-stub

Posts held

See also

References