Paths 'less' travelled: Remembering YSR, Rajesh Pilot, Madhav Rao Scindhia, Sanjay Gandhi

New Delhi, June 3: Everyone is still mulling over the untimely death of the Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde, who lost his life in a road accident today morning. But he is not alone, there were other leaders in the past who died in futile road or air accidents. Let's see who they are:

Sanjay Gandhi: An emerging politician and the frontrunner of Congress party after its re-election in 1980, Sanjay was wielding considerable clout in the party spheres. However, apart from being a politician, he was a daredevil pilot too. And this was the cause of his death on 23rd June 1980. His aircraft crashed mysteriously, just 100 meters from his house at 1 Safdarjung Airport. The trainer who accompanied him also died in the crash. However, there are conspiracy theories doing the circles even now.

Rajesh Pilot: He was a Senior Congress leader and a former Union Minister whose life ended tragically in a road accident near his constituency, Dausa on his return to Jaipur, from where he was to catch a plane to Delhi.

The jeep in which he was travelling had a head-on collision with a Rajasthan roadways bus. Seriously injured in the mishap, was killed on the spot, according to the gunman. However, he was rushed to the SMS hospital.

Madhavrao Scindia: A senior Congress leader, Madhavrao Scindia and six others were killed when their private planecrashed on the outskirts of mainpuri district, 172 km from kanpur, on sunday afternoon. The eight dead included scindia, his personal assistant rupendra singh, pilot vivek gupta, co-pilot ritu mallick, special correspondent (aaj tak) ranjan jha, cameraman (aaj tak) gopal bhist, journalists sanjeev sinha (indian express) and anju sharma (hindustan times).

YS Rajashekhara Reddy: A very popular leader among the farmers of Andhra Pradesh and poorer sections of the society, Reddy was the main reason behind Congress coming back to power. At the age of 60, he died an untimely death when his helicopter crashed at the Rudrakonda Hill.

The helicopter was carrying YSR Reddy, two of his staff and two pilots to Chittoor when it went missing in heavy rainfall in the Naxal and tiger-infested Nalamalla forests.

24 hours after YSR's chopper went missing, it was located atop Serai Salem hill, at a distance 40 nautical miles (70 kms) east of Kurnool.

When he could not be traced even after 24 hours, a massive search operation was launched searching for the remains of the helicopter.

OneIndia News