Maharashtra: Rahul Gandhi To Visit Parbhani On December 23, To Meet Family Of Dalit Youth Who Died In Judicial Custody

Mumbai: Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, will visit Parbhani on Monday to meet the family of Somnath Suryawanshi, the law student who died in judicial custody following the violence in Marathwada region.

Gandhi will arrive in Nanded by a special flight at 2.45pm from Delhi and then travel by road to Parbhani. After meeting the Suryawanshi's family, he will return to Nanded and fly back to Delhi in the evening. State Congress president Nana Patole and senior leader Vijay Wadettiwar will accompany him.

The incident dates back to December 10, when protests broke out in Parbhani during a bandh against the desecration of a replica of the Constitution placed near a statue of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. The protests escalated into large-scale violence, vandalism and stone-pelting. Suryawanshi, one of the accused in the violence, died in judicial custody on December 15.