Kaushalya Devi (75), who continued the fight of her late son Chandrasekhar -- a CPI-ML (Liberation) leader -- against "Siwan don" and RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, passed away on Wednesday at her native village in Siwan. She was suffering from kidney ailments for some time.

Kaushalya Devi had shown indomitable courage after the henchmen of the Siwan MP shot dead her only son in broad daylight in 1997. Chandrasekhar, who was the president of the JNU Student’s Union in 1994-95 and a CPI(ML) activist, was allgedly killed at the behest of Shahabuddin while he was addressing a street corner meeting in Siwan in support of a strike called by his party.

Kaushalya not only rejected the compensation offered by the then United Front Government but also started a campaign against Shahabuddin in Siwan. "I want Shahabuddin to be hanged," she had written to the then Home Minister, Indrajit Gupta.

She had even contested Assembly elections once from Jiradei constituency in Siwan and dared Shahabuddin to kill her.

Kaushalya's struggle continued even in her last days, said a local CPI-ML leader. "Her relatives grabbed her property and did not take care of her. They did not even inform us after her death," the leader said and lamented how they could not offer her a revolutionary farewell.