Mumbai, Oct. 2 -- Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Milind Deora has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting the prestigious Ashok Chakra for Captain Smit Machchhar, the Mumbai-born pilot who showed exemplary courage during a recent flydubai mid-air crisis in a flight operating from Dubai to Tel Aviv.

Sharing the letter on X on behalf of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the Shiv Sena, Deora praised Captain Machchhar as a "son of Mumbai who showed extraordinary courage when it mattered most."

"Faced with an unimaginable situation in mid-air, he put the lives of others before his own and continued to act despite being seriously wounded," Deora wrote, noting that the act embodies the highest levels of courage, selfles...