Congress's Bholanath Pandey, who 'hijacked' flight for Indira Gandhi's release, dies
The remains of Bholanath Pandey have been stored in his lucknow residence, and on saturday morning, he will be cremated. He served as an mla twice for Uttar Pradesh's Doaba (now Bairia) assembly seat. In addition to his political contributions, Bholanath Pandey is best known for his audacious action on december 20, 1978, when he used a toy gun to "hijack" an indian Airlines flight, IC 410, in order to demand the release of indira gandhi, who had been taken into custody in Delhi's tihar jail following the Emergency on suspicion of being involved in a scam.
They forced the flight captain to declare that the aircraft had been hijacked and was now headed to patna rather than delhi after they had entered the cockpit. The flight was said to be heading to varanasi after a while.
Using the intercom, Bholanath and Devendra Pandey gave remarks introducing themselves as youth congress members. They had said that they supported nonviolence and that the passengers wouldn't suffer any harm.
Additionally, Bholanath Pandey had asked that all charges against Sanjay Gandhi, the son of indira gandhi, be withdrawn.
Bholanath Pandey and Devendra Pandey met Janata party member ram naresh Yadav, who was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh at the time, when the plane landed in Varanasi.
The airplane was given the all-clear to depart following hours of negotiations and promises that indira gandhi would be released. Subsequently, Bholanath and Devendra Panday submitted.
Subsequently, during an interview, Bholanath Pandey stated that their act of hijacking was only a protest meant to exert pressure on the Janata party administration to free Indira Gandhi.