NEW DELHI 04 OCTOBER 2026 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in PLUS: 12 PAGES Take It Step by Step THE GREAT EVEREST INVASION MAGAZINE Devdutt Pattanaik Prabhu Chawla Ravi Shankar Anuja Chandramouli Gopalkrishna Gandhi Shankkar Aiyar Anand Neelakantan The Other Kerala Story EXCLUSIVE VOICES Going With the Flow ‘I Love the Constant Mix-up’ An American Family Affair SWAMI SUKHABODHANANDA SPEAKS Finding the Tranquil Mind A Perch With a View GOLDEN FINISH: INDIA END ON HIGH INDRANEEL DAS EXPRESS @ ASIAN GAMES NAGOYA Dubai Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum with Captain Smit Machchhar at a UAE hospital | PTI 29-year-old jumps from 43rd floor of society, dies EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi A 29-year-old man died after allegedly falling from the balcony of a 43rd-floor room in the Spire Building at Noida Sector-94 on Saturday of, ficials said. Following the incident, a police team rushed to the spot and identified the deceased as Sambhav Jain, a resident of Manesar in Haryana. Several videos, recorded from mobile phones, of the incident are being shared on social media. Police found that Jain had come alone for a one-day stay. He was seen hanging from the railing of the balcony before jumping to death, police said. The inquest proceedings for the body have been completed, and a post-mortem has been carried out. Police officers and the FSL team inspected the spot, collected necessary evidence, and investigated all aspects while reviewing footage from the CCTV cameras at the incident site and surrounding areas, the officer added. It was learned that the deceased was under mental stress. His family has been informed, and further legal action is being ensured as per regulations, police said. PRESSINTAKE Didi loses chairpersonship of two key Standing Committees | P7 One lynched, another burnt alive over ‘cow smuggling’ | P8 UAE confirms crash axe use for Flydubai terror attack Hammam al-Hammami reportedly the co-pilot, motive not clear yet E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi THE co-pilot of Flydubai flight FZ1073 attempted to carry out a “terrorist attack” with a crash axe while the aircraft was flying from Dubai to Israel, the United Arab Emirates prosecutor general said on Saturday according to the state news agency WAM. UAE Prosecutor General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said an investigation had found that the co-pilot “had attempted to carry out a terrorist attack”. He said the co-pilot attacked the pilot inside the cockpit with a crash axe in a bid to take control of the aircraft. The co-pilot was identified as Hammam al-Hammami, an Omani national. However, Emirati authorities and Flydubai have not publicly named him. Israeli officials had said the co-pilot was an Omani national, while Oman has not commented about it yet. A crash axe is normally kept in an aircraft cockpit for emergency purposes, including situations involving a crash or forced landing When Oman of the aircraft. The UAE prosecubarred him tor general said the probe into the from flying suspect’s motives, remained ongoing and that the findings would be Al-Hammami released after the completion of was previously the “necessary procedures”. barred from The incident took place last flying in Oman Wednesday aboard the Dubai-Tel over concerns Aviv flight. Most of the passenabout his radical gers were Israeli nationals. A reideological serve Flydubai pilot who was travviews, the Wall elling as a passenger took control Street Journal of the aircraft after the cockpit reported terror attack and landed safely at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia. The injured pilot, Indian national, Captain Smit Machchhar, is recovering well and remained under medical care, the Indian Embassy said. Dubai Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum praised Machchhar after visiting him in hospital. He said the pilot had “embodied the highest degrees of courage, responsibility and care for human , life”. “From us, and from the leadership of the nation, he has our full appreciation and praise,” Hamdan said. “We are proud that he is part of our team, and part of what the UAE stands for a nation of compassion, of peace and a nation of life,” he said. P9 I T was like the last day of a wedding. Barring an equestrian event on Sunday morning, the festivities are over; done and dusted for the next four years. The overlays are being peeled one after the other. The temporary structures are getting dismantled and weary volunteers are slowly leaving their stations. Only the Closing Ceremony remains. After a slightly iffy start, the sun has been shining from an Indian perspective. India won as many as four gold on Saturday It began with . women’s archery and golf in the morning. The men’s cricket team kept their date with destiny before the men’s hockey team booked their LA28 spot. The highlight, though, arrived in the form of an incomparable run to gold in the women’s individual recurve archery . It was enough to propel India to fourth place in the medals tally with 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze. However, it has to be noted that Uzbekistan could take the fourth spot if they win gold in the equestrian event on Sunday. Even if Saturday saw two of India’s beloved sides winning gold, the day belonged to Kumkum Mohod, the 17-yearold archer whose unerring ac- India players celebrate after beating Malaysia in the men’s hockey final to win the gold medal on Saturday | PTI Bright future What is heartening is that almost all the medallists from India are young while some of them made their debut. A healthy sign with the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics just two years away curacy with a bow and arrow dethroned the might of the South Koreans. If she was raging in faraway Okazaki sports park, wrestlers — Aman Sehrawat was the standout — scorched the mat. On top of that, there was a welcome gold in golf — Pranavi Urs became the first Indian woman to bag gold. India cricket team’s win over Pakistan was the icing on the cake. Though there were no handshakes, they had the gold medal dangling around their necks at least — unlike in the Asia Cup which is still lying in the Asian Cricket Council headquarters. India’s overall medals tally (85) and gold (21) was well below the high of Hangzhou (107 & 28). But, after a head-scratching first week, this was a fine comeback. Over to Doha. P11 EXPRESS READ Safety audit of group housing societies The Office of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies has instructed all Cooperative Group Housing Societies in the city to undertake comprehensive safety audits of their buildings and common facilities, with managing committees being made responsible for taking remedial action. P4 Public welfare key, PM tells Haryana MLAs PM Narendra Modi met Haryana BJP MLAs , including CM Nayab Singh Saini, on Saturday and discussed ways to serve people better. He urged the MLAs to spend more time in their constituencies and ensure that the benefits of government schemes reach the intended beneficiaries directly. P4 IAF CHIEF SAYS CHINA, PAK STEALTH A WORRY Air Chief Marshal A P Singh said the force may have to look at “other fighter platforms” if the indigenous flagship AMCA project slips. | P7 Over 150 detained on Day 2 of protests against CEC E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi ACTIVISTS of the All India Students’ Association (AISA) staged a protest for the second consecutive day against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, with around 150 protesters detained while they were marching towards Jantar Mantar amid police deployment on Saturday . The protesters began marching from Patel Chowk next to the Election Commission’s office, towards Jantar Mantar, where security personnel had erected barricades and deployed additional forces to prevent the demonstrators from reaching the designated protest area, according to an official. Senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Nitya Ramakrishnan and Pallav Sisodia, along with Prashant Bhushan and activist Yogendra Yadav, joined other students during the march. Sibal said that he was walking in protest for the first time because the rights of lakhs of people had been taken away by the SIR exercise of the Election Commission. Around 150 protesters, including Yadav, Bhushan, Bora and No permission: Police A senior police officer said no individual or organisation had been named as an accused in the FIRs, though details of organisers and organisations that proposed or participated in the demonstrations were mentioned in their contents. Delhi Police said it had denied permission to the protesters for the Friday gathering and had imposed heightened security measures in central Delhi Senior lawyers Kapil Sibal and Prashant Bhushan with activist Yogendra Yadav, AISA national president Neha Bora and others during a protest march in Delhi on Saturday | PTI CPI(M-L) leader N Sai Balaji, were detained soon after the march. Later in the evening, Sibal said he would hold a press conference to expose the “deliberate deletions” carried out in his former constituency in Delhi from where he was sent to the Lok Sabha in 2004 and 2009. “Women protesters, journalists, and lawyers were manhandled by male police,” AISA said in a statement. The fresh mobilisation followed Bora’s call on Friday evening for activists to return to Jantar Mantar and continue the protest demanding Kumar’s resignation and raising concerns over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Saturday’s protest came a day after protests were held near Jantar Mantar, in which more than 800 people were detained by Delhi Police. Several political leaders were part of the detained group on Friday. They included Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha and AAP leaders Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj, and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh. Delhi Police has filed at least three FIRs in connection with Friday’s protests, against the protesters under Section 223 of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita. P4 After Messi mess, Brazilian football Report FIRs against AGMUT officers in 48 hrs team skips dinner hosted by Suvendu MHA ORDER E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi THE Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has directed all segments of the AGMUT cadre to intimate it within 48 hours any case, arrest, adverse court order or action by probe agencies involving IAS, IPS, DANICS and DANIPS officers, sources said. The directive has been issued during a review meeting following concerns that investigations involving agencies such as the CBI, ED and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) were not being reported promptly by local departments, they said. The MHA has also asked all AGMUT segments to submit 1 On mandatory training, exemptions only in genuinely exceptional circumstances Each AGMUT segment told to establish an internal tracking mechanism 2 MUST DO LIST 3 Officers approaching promotion eligibility relieved for training on priority 4 Arunachal govt asked to expedite proposal for induction of state police service officers into IPS for 2025 select list and send it to UPSC details and supporting documents in pending disciplinary cases by October 15, indicating whether each matter is at the pre-charg esheet or postchargesheet stage. Proposals must contain a complete statement of facts, chronology of events, authenticated copies of relied-upon doc- uments, witness lists, draft chargesheets and a specific recommendation on the proposed major or minor penalty, along with reasons for initiating proceedings. Incomplete proposals returned by the ministry must be resubmitted within 15 days. The MHA has separately ordered closer scrutiny of offic- ers on prolonged leave, including verification of leave accounts, the nature and duration of leave, extensions granted and the officer’s place of stay Salaries are to be paid only . for periods covered by duly sanctioned leave, while excess payments must be identified and recovered under rules. Ladakh, Puducherry, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Arunachal Pradesh have been asked to verify leave records and initiate recovery wherever required. Cases involving unexplained prolonged absence or failure to resume duty despite repeated directions may lead to disciplinary action under service rules. S U B H E N D U M A I T I @ Kolkata THE much-awaited Brazil-India friendly at Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday evening was overshadowed by a last-minute snub on Friday night. The Brazilian side boycotted a dinner hosted at JW Marriott by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari after being made to wait for 10 minutes during a photo session. Senior leaders, ministers, bureaucrats and others jostled for selfies with the Samba stars, delaying the event. The visitors, clearly miffed, skipped both the dinner and the accompanying musical performance by a noted percussionist, sourc- Vinicius Junior during the friendly with India in Kolkata on Saturday | PTI es present at the venue said. The CM, who was to turn up after campaigning in Nandigram for the BJP’s Hasirani Rath, stayed away after learn- ing about the development. The episode, described by sources as a loss of face for the organisers because of mismanagement, went viral on social media. Sports minister Dr Indranil Khan and AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey did not respond to queries from this newspaper. Meanwhile, security was ramped up for the high-profile fixture on Saturday, billed as one of the city’s biggest in recent years. Officials said they do not want a repeat of the chaos that marked Lionel Messi’s visit to the city last December. Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior led the visitors as the marquee name on the pitch.