Sanjay Gandhi was an Indian politician and the son of Indira Gandhi. He was widely expected to succeed his mother as the head of the Indian National Congress, however, following his early death in a plane crash, his elder brother Rajiv Gandhi became their mother's political heir and succeeded her as Prime Minister of India after her assassination.
His wife Maneka Gandhi and son Varun Gandhi are politicians in the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Death of Sanjay Gandhi:
Sanjay Gandhi died instantly from head wounds in an air crash on June 23, 1980, near Safdarjung Airport in New Delhi. He was flying a new aircraft of the Delhi flying club and while performing an aerobatic manoeuvre over his office, it lost control and crashed. Sanjay was not well experienced as a pilot but a daredevil all the same.
His elder brother told him on numerous occasions to be more careful and to wear proper shoes and not Kolhapuri chappals in the cockpit. Sanjay chose to ignore his advice. He was clad in kurta-pyjama and Kolhapuri chappals when he got into the advanced Pitts S- 2A aircraft. He flew low and indulged in some reckless manoeuvres before crashing.
Sanjay died instantly. It took eight surgeons four hours to stitch up his mutilated body.
Priya Singh Paul claimed to be Sanjay Gandhi's biological daughter:
A hitherto unknown chapter of Sanjay's personal life was revealed in January 2017, when Priya Singh Paul claimed that Sanjay Gandhi was her biological father and that she was given away by her biological family for adoption.
In June 2017, she gave a legal notice in her capacity as his daughter to stop the release of a film on Sanjay Gandhi.
Priya Singh Paul claimed that she was born in 1968 and adopted in 1974 and that the reason given for her adoption was that since her biological father was in politics, the child was required to stay separately for some time.
Her reason for wanting to stop the film on Sanjay Gandhi was, "I am not ashamed, I just want to protect the name of my family. I am not after power or fame."
Neither the Congress nor the Gandhi family reacted to Priya Singh Paul's allegations.
