The editorial Page: eCi and Court make it harder, not easier, to trust in independent institutions 10 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026 JournAlism of CourAGe KoLKAtA, LAte CIty, 18 PAgeS ₹6.00 (₹12 in north east states, ₹20 in Andaman) l www.indianexpress.com DA I Ly f R o m : A h m e DA B A D , C h A n D I gA R h , D e L h I , J A I P U R , Ko L K AtA , L U C K n o w , m U m B A I , n Ag P U R , PAt n A , P U n e , vA D o DA R A lPM NareNdra Modi will Mid-air scare: Flight plunges as co-pilot stabs pilot, Israel says terror bid to bring down plane liraNi TroPhy kicks off with Dubai-Tel Aviv flight: Passengers mostly Israelis, co-pilot overpowered, reserve crew lands plane in Saudi airport Happening today participate in centenary celebrations of UPSC and address a gathering. the Rest of India facing Ranji champions J&K. Pacer Akash Deep makes a comeback after seven months of rehabilitation. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com business as Usual By EP UNNY SP’ssurprise candidateforrS polls:reliance executive NathwaniJunior sP chief akhilesh Yadav, dhanraj nathwani (right) and ram Gopal Yadav in Lucknow, Wednesday. vIShAL SRIvAStAv Maulshree Seth & Parimal a dabhi Lucknow,Ahmedabad,Sept30 VeterAn SAMAJWADI Party (SP) leader ram Gopal Yadav and reliance Industries executive Dhanraj nathwani on Wednesday filed their nomination papers for the October 16 rajya Sabha elections as the SP's candidates. While the selection of ram Gopal Yadav, a seasoned leader and uncle of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, was expected, nathwani’s name came as a surprise even within the party circles. nathwani, 40, is the son of Director, Corporate Affairs for reliance Industries ltd (rIl), Parimal nathwani, who was reelected to the rajya Sabha from Jharkhand as an nDA-backed Independent in the June 2026 election,securinghisfourthconsecutive term in the Upper house. referring to Dhanraj nathwani, Akhilesh said he was happy that the SP got an opportunitytosendapersonfromthe new generation to the Upper house. “Many parties have a footprint in the corporate world. So the Samajwadi Party hasalsodecidedtohavearajya Sabha MP to connect with the business world,” he said. nathwani,whothankedthe SP chief for his nomination, is a senior corporate executive of the reliance Industries. »CoNTiNUed oN PaGe 2 alexander Cornwell, rami amichay & Lina obeid Sukalp Sharma Jerusalem, September 30 the CO-PIlOt of a flight from Dubai to tel Aviv tried to crash theplaneafterstabbingthepilot, but passengers subdued him while other pilots landed the plane safely in Saudi Arabia, IsraeliofficialssaidonWednesday. Describing the event as “a highlyseveresecurityincident”, IsraeliPrimeMinisterBenjamin netanyahu said Saudi authorities would interrogate the copilot of flydubai flight FZ1073 from the United Arab emirates toIsrael,whichhadover170pas- ‘Hero’ pilot identified as Indian, used ‘last moments of energy to open cockpit’ New Delhi, September 30 Israeli passengers who were aboard the flydubai aircraft welcomed at Ben Gurion airport near Tel aviv. AP reLaTed rePorT, Page 12 sengers — mostly Israelis — on board.theairlineconfirmedan “altercation in the flight deck” butsaidtheunderlyingreasons for the event remained »CoNTiNUed oN PaGe 2 the PIlOt who fought off the co-pilot and thwarted an alleged attempt to crash the plane has been identified as an Indian national. Israeli media reports, citing officials, said the pilot was an Indian and the co-pilot an Omani national. Sources in the know identified the pilot as Smit Machchhar, who was earlier with SpiceJet. the airline has not released theidentitiesornationalitiesof EC row: Opp plans protests, rallies, plea in Supreme Court ProdUCTive CoNverSaTioN: PM Modi, Trump review trade, defence ties First conversation after US’s Russia sanctions law Shubhajit roy Pilot smit machchhar. LInKeDIn the pilot and co-pilot. Israeliofficialshavesaidthe co-pilot stabbed the pilot in the cockpittotrytocrashtheplane. A Reuters report quoted Doron »CoNTiNUed oN PaGe 2 ‘Professional jealousy...hehas nobusiness’: ex-rajasthan actingCJonSC judgeclaims congress chief mallikarjun kharge, party leaders sonia Gandhi, rahul Gandhi and former West Bengal cm mamata Banerjee at the IndIa bloc meeting in new delhi on Wednesday. AnIL ShARmA hamza Khan IntheIrfirstphoneconversation since the enactment of the US law which authorises tariffs of up to 100 per cent on countries purchasing russian oil and gas, including India and China, Prime Minister narendra Modi and US President Donald trump on Wednesday reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation across trade, defence, energy, critical technologies and other areas of mutual interest. “had a productive conversation with President trump. Wereviewedourbilateralcooperation in trade, defence, energy, critical technologies and other areas. We agreed to maintain close engagement to take our Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership forward,” Modi said in a post on X. “We also exchanged views on regional and international issues, including ongoing efforts to advance global peace and security,” he said. “theyreaffirmedtheircommitment to advancing the Justice (retd) sanjeev Prakash sharma, former acting chief Justice of rajasthan high court asad rehman & Manoj C G New Delhi, September 30 New Delhi, September 30 AMID the row over a rupture in the election Commission (eC), the leaders of the Opposition InDIA bloc on Wednesday announced a joint action plan against alleged poll irregularities and the Special Intensive revision (SIr) of electoral rolls. their planned agitation would include protests across thecountry,amarchbytheOpposition MPs to the eC headquarters, and a mega rally in Delhi on november 1. these decisions were taken at a three-and-a-half-hour meeting of the grouping in Delhi, which was attended by the leaders of 19 parties and In- inside Page 6 Jaipur, September 30 What’s the glitch, hc asks ec after 6 names removed from goa rolls dependent MP Kapil Sibal. AmongtheOppositionfaces whoattendedthemeetingwere Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and rahul Gandhi; trinamool Congress (tMC) chief Mamata Banerjee; JammuandKashmirChiefMinister Omar Abdullah; rJD’s tejashwi Yadav; nCP (SP) MP SupriyaSule;PDPchiefMehbooba Mufti; CPI(M) chief M A Baby; CPI(M)-l’s Dipankar »CoNTiNUed oN PaGe 2 Gillhitsfastestdoubleton skipper shubman Gill hit the fastest-ever double century in odIs (223 not out in 133 balls) as India completed the second-highest run-chase (406) in the format’s history to seal the three-match series against the West Indies in Guwahati, Wednesday. AnI rePorT, PaGe 18 Bihar forest dept takes on highway work — and responsibility for forest clearance Days after MoU signed with Road dept, head of Bihar forest says it’s ‘being withdrawn’ Jay Mazoomdaar New Delhi, September 30 In An unusual agreement signed with Bihar’s road Construction Department (rCD), the state forest department has taken responsibility for obtaining forest clearance for a highway widening project that will be executed by the department itself on forest land. Signed on September 26 by Bihar’s head of Forest Force (hoFF) Arvinder Singh and rCD engineer-in-chief Uma Kant rajak, the memorandum ofunderstanding(MoU)covers widening and strengthening a 10.5-kilometre stretch of national highway 333 from a single-lane road to a two-lane carriageway through Gangata forest in Munger district. theMoUexplicitlytasksthe department responsible for protecting forests with delivering a road project and facilitating its statutory permissions. According to the environmentministry'ssingle-window Parivesh portal, the project requires 2.1 hectare of forest land from Bhimband Wildlife Sanctuary,forwhichthePublic Works Department sought forest clearance in April 2023 and wildlife clearance in February 2024. the application status reads "Pending at State." Asked about the conflict of interest between the forest department's role in scrutinising forest clearance applications and its project-delivery commitments to the rCD, hoFF Singh said, “that MoU is being withdrawn.” he did not commentonthecircumstancesthat led to the department signing the agreement. the terms of the MoU are explicit. Clause 4.2 requires the »CoNTiNUed oN PaGe 2 JUStICe (retD) Sanjeev Prakash Sharma, former acting Chief Justice of the rajasthan high Court, has opened up for the first time on the allegations levelled against him by Supreme Court Justice Sandeep Mehta, saying that they may be borne out of “professional jealousy” and that Justice Mehta had “no business” intervening in the matters of a high Court. In an exclusive interview with The Indian Express, Justice Sharma, who retired as a judge of the rajasthan high Court last week, said he should be allowed to cross-examine Justice Mehta and alleged that he had instigated lawyers in rajasthan to go on protest. In a series of letters sent to theChiefJusticeofIndiainAugust and copied to other membersoftheSupremeCourt Collegium, Justice Mehta had accused Justice Sharma of “misuse of powers” and »CoNTiNUed oN PaGe 7 inside Pages 5, 13 eye on transmission bottleneck, cabinet gives nod to green energy Plan cabinet aPProves increase in msP for rabi croPs Pm narendra modi with Us President donald Trump at the G7 summit in France in June. PmInDIA.gov.In India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership and agreed to maintain close engagement to deepen cooperation for the benefit of the people of both countries,” the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement. the two leaders also exchanged views on regional and international developments and discussed ongoing efforts topromoteglobalpeaceandsecurity,itsaid,addingthat“both leaders agreed to remain in touch”. Modi is expected to travel to theUSfortheG20leaders’summit in December this year. Before that, US Secretary of State Marco rubio is expected to travel to India in the third week of October. (PTI adds: Commerce and IndustryMinisterPiyushGoyal »CoNTiNUed oN PaGe 2 express special kPsc exam for vets: 14 top rankers got leaked questions, says probability test Recruitment on hold amid CID investigation Johnson T a Bengaluru, September 30 AStAtIStICAlprobabilitytest usedbyinvestigatorstoidentify candidates who cheated in the KarnatakaPublicServiceCommission exams held in January forrecruitingveterinarydoctors has concluded that 14 top rankholders across two categories benefittedfromquestionsallegedly leaked earlier by a senior KPSC official, The Indian Express has learnt. thetest,whichgivesinvestigatorsapreliminaryinsight,has revealeda99.9percentmatchin the correct and wrong answers submittedbythesetop-ranking candidatesintwoexamsheldon January 9, for general proficiency and specialised veterinary science knowledge, both in the multiple choice question »CoNTiNUed oN PaGe 7 E. expLained testing time Statistical tests analyse the pattern of answers in multiple choice question exams, studying deviations from an approximate normal to detect possible malpractice. Of late, these probability tests use computer algorithms to flag unusual response patterns, such as multiple candidates getting the same answers right and wrong. l TopresULTs 99.9% match in right and wrong answers among top 14 rank holders in 2 categories 100%match: main category ranks 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10, and backlog category ranks 1, 2 and 3 99% match: main category ranks 1, 3, 8 and 12 l ParIs-headQUarTered mUseUm sTUdIo WILL ParTner WITh TaTa enGIneerInG FIrm In meGa resToraTIon ProJecT; raJYa saBha dePUTY chaIrman harIVansh In adVIsorY commITTee Global firm will design Gandhi Ashram museums; politicians, academics on board Parimal a dabhi & Leena Misra a consortium with ecofirst Services ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of tata Consulting enAhmedabad, September 30 gineers, top sources told AS the new Gandhi Ashram The Indian Express. the Mahatma Gandhi SatakesshapeinAhmedabad,the contract for designing the 23 barmati Ashram Memorial museums on the premises has trust is overseeing the project to redevelop, conbeenawardedtoMupage 1 serve, and expand seum Studio, a glothe historic Sabarbally acclaimed mati Ashram under executing firm for turnkey projects in cultural in- the direct supervision of Prime Minister narendra Modi. stitutions. Gandhi had purchased the Museum Studio, which is headquartered in Paris and has 60-acre plot on the bank of the a presence in 46 countries Sabarmati river between the around the world, will work in central prison and a cremation anchor ground, and moved into the ashram in 1917, which was also the year of his first major satyagraha in Champaran, Bihar. the buildings are being revived using the same materials that were used to build them more than a century ago — bricks, teak, and lime plaster, with a paste of urad (black gram), jaggery, and fenugreek seeds for binding. they will be repurposed as museums in the new premises spread over 55 acres.this“world-class”memorial will be the largest dedicated to Gandhi in the world, sources said. Junu rasodu (right) is a former community kitchen. BhUPenDRA RAnA A nine-member Content Advisory Committee (CAC) appointedbythetrustisgivinginputs for the museums that will showcasevariousaspectsofthe Mahatma’s life and his leadership of the independence movement. the committee comprises political figures, philanthropists, museologists, and academics. they are rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman harivansh; rajashreeBirla,trusteeofGujarat Vidyapith and grand daughter-in-law of Gandhi’s close associate Ghanshyamdas Birla;directorgeneralofPatna’s Kolkata Bihar Museum Anjani Kumar Singh; chairperson of the national Commission for Scheduled Castes and former spokesperson of the Gujarat BJP KishorMakwana;vicechancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith and former media convener of the Gujarat BJP harshad Patel; director general of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly Prince of Wales Museum) in Mumbai Sabyasachi Mukherjee; historian and member of the Prime Minister’sMuseumandlibrarySociety (PMMlS) in new Delhi rizwan Kadri; trustee of the In- diraGandhinationalCentrefor the Arts (IGnCA), new Delhi, rajaram Yajnik; and pro-vice chancellor of the Indian Institute of heritage (IIh, formerly national Museum Institute), new Delhi, Manvi Seth. the committee has met three times since it was constituted in March. At its last meeting in August, the committee vetted some material to be displayed, including material on Gandhi’s years in South Africa, the various people who influencedhim,andthosewhom he influenced. »CoNTiNUed oN PaGe 2