Who were Prabhat Pandey and Mridul Islam, Cong workers ‘killed’ in protests?

In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi mourned the death of the two workers and alleged “excessive police force” as a reason for their deaths.

A massive political controversy erupted on Wednesday after Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi claimed that two Congress workers died during party's protests in separate incidents in Uttar Pradesh and Assam.

Mridul Islam, a 45-year-old Congress worker, died in Guwahati Medical College and Hospital. ((X/@INCAssam))

In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi mourned the death of the two workers and alleged “excessive police force” as the reason behind their deaths.

Here's everything we know about the two Congress workers who lost their lives.

Mridul Islam

Mridul Islam, a 45-year-old advocate, was the secretary of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee’s (APCC) legal cell. Party spokesperson Bedabrat Bora claimed that Mridul Islam had felt suffocated when a tear gas cell fell near him and was taken to the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, where he was declared dead.

State congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah told The Hindu, “Mridul Islam did not die. The Himanta Biswa Sarma government murdered him through a planned crackdown on peaceful protestors.”

Congress spokespersons while speaking to PTI claimed there had been an excessive shelling of tear gas. In an FIR filed at the Latasil police station, the Congress had demanded action against the police officers responsible as well as compensation for the family of Mridul Islam. They termed it as a “homicidal death amounting to murder.”

Islam, who belonged to the neighbouring town of Boko, and other party workers were protesting outside the Raj Bhavan in Guwahati against the Adani group and the “lack of discussion” surrounding the Manipur crisis by the BJP-led central government.

Prabhat Pandey

Prabhat Pandey, a 28-year-old native of Gorakhpur and a Youth Congress leader, allegedly died in the middle of a Congress-led protest in Lucknow after a scuffle with the police.

Police officials told news agency PTI that he was brought dead to the Civil Hospital in Hazratganj from the Congress office.

DCP (Central Lucknow) Raveena Tyagi said that Prabhat, identified as the son of Deepak Pandey, had no visible injuries when he was brought to the hospital at 5 pm.

“A post-mortem would be done by a panel and the process would be videographed. Accordingly further legal proceedings would be carried out," she said.

In a post on X, Congress leader Ajay Rai stated, “We will not tolerate this incident at all. The Yogi government should give financial assistance of ₹1 crore to the family of the deceased and a government job to one member of the family as compensation.”

He also claimed that the responsibility for Pandey's death rested on the police as they had beaten him very badly.