Devendra Pandey

Devendra Pandey was an Indian politician affiliated with the Indian National Congress, who served as a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) twice from Jaisinghpur Legislative Assembly from 1980 to 1985 and 1985 to 1989. He also served as the Uttar Pradesh State General Secretary of the Indian National Congress. 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 to Delhi with the help of a toy gun in protest against the arrest of Indira Gandhi. 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 Indira Gandhi, the government withdrew the case against him in 1980. Devendra Pandey was close to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

After the death of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv 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.