Bholanath Pandey and Devendra Pandey on December 20, 1978 hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 410, en-route on a domestic flight from Calcutta to Lucknow, and forced it land at Varanasi. They demanded the release of Indira Gandhi (who had been arrested after The Emergency) and the withdrawal of all the cases against her son Sanjay Gandhi.[1] They carried only toy weapons. After keeping 130 passengers and crew hostage in the Boeing 737-200 for some hours, they surrendered in the presence of media.

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Indian Airlines Flight 410

An Indian Airlines Boeing 737-200, similar to the aircraft involved in the hijacking
Hijacking
Date	20 December 1978 (1978-12-20)
Summary	Aircraft hijacking
Site	Varanasi Airport, Uttar Pradesh, India 25°27′08″N 082°51′34″E
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 737-200
Operator	Indian Airlines
IATA flight No.	IC410
Flight origin	Calcutta Airport
Destination	Amausi Airport
Occupants	132 (including the hijackers)
Passengers	126
Crew	6
Fatalities	0

The Indian National Congress party rewarded them with party tickets for the 1980 state assembly election; both won the election and became members of the legislative assembly of Uttar Pradesh. Bhola served as a Congress MLA from 1980 to 1985 and 1989 to 1991 from Ballia and Devendra remained a member of the house for two terms.

Devendra resigned from the party as a general secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee. Bhola Pandey also became general secretary of the Indian Youth Congress and secretary of the Indian National Congress. Bhola Pandey unsuccessfully contested the 1991, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Salempur as a Congress candidate. Devendra never served the party as a general secretary ever again of Uttar Pradesh.

See also

• List of hijackings of Indian aeroplanes#1970s
• List of aircraft hijackings#1970s
• List of accidents and incidents involving airliners by location#India
• List of accidents and incidents involving airliners by airline (D–O)#I
• List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft#1978

References

Further reading

• Hijacking: A toy-gun affair, India Today, 15 January 1979.
• Tale of two hijackers: One is Congress candidate, other most wanted, The Times of India, 3 April 2014.

External links

• Hijacking description at the Aviation Safety Network
• India's tryst with plane hijacks, Business Standard, 18 March 2014.
• IC 410 Plane Hijackers become MLA’s in India, Mythgyaan, 27 March 2019.