India Opens Anti-Hijacking Probe Into Flydubai Cockpit Attack on Captain

Captain Smit Machchhar was allegedly stabbed by an Omani co-pilot aboard a Flydubai aircraft, according to India Today. Times of India reported that the flight was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

The aircraft, identified as flight FZ1073, was diverted and made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, according to Mint.

Times now dates the incident to September 30 and describes it as a failed hijacking attempt. The other supplied reports generally describe a cockpit attack or a mid-air attack on the captain.

On October 10, India Today reported that India's National Investigation Agency had filed a case over the attack. That brings an Indian investigative agency into a case involving an Indian captain, an Omani co-pilot and a flight diverted to Saudi Arabia.

The case was registered under provisions of the Anti-Hijacking Act, 2016, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, The Hindu reported. According to Business Line - Home, officials said the agency invoked Section 3, concerning hijacking, and Section 16 read with Section 15(1)(a) of the counterterrorism law.

The investigation will examine a possible terror angle, according to Mint. Indian Express reported that the agency would also probe a possible larger conspiracy.

The reported development is the registration of a case and the use of anti-hijacking and counterterrorism provisions. The Hindu reports those legal steps, but the supplied coverage does not establish a terrorist motive or a wider plot.

The description of the incident also varies. Times now calls it a failed hijacking attempt, while India Today describes an attack in which the co-pilot stabbed the captain. The investigation has yet to resolve those questions in the supplied reporting.

The central pending question is whether investigators find evidence of a terror motive or involvement beyond the alleged attacker. Those are the lines of inquiry identified by Mint and Indian Express, rather than findings already established.