Sameer Khandekar, dean of student affairs at IIT Kanpur, was delivering a lecture on good health when he collapsed on the stage due to a cardiac arrest. He was declared dead upon arrival by the hospital, the institute said.

While addressing the alumni meet on Friday, he had asked everyone to take care of their health moments before he started sweating profusely, according to reports. Before anyone could make sense of what was happening, he collapsed on the dais.

An IIT-Kanpur professor told news agency PTI that Khandekar was diagnosed with high cholesterol levels about five years ago. He was the dean of student affairs and also the head of the mechanical engineering department.

Former IIT Kanpur director Abhay Karandikar, expressing shock over the sudden death, described Khandekar as an outstanding teacher and researcher.

“It’s unbelievable! The news of my friend Prof. Sameer Khandekar’s (Professor in Mechanical Engineering at IIT Kanpur) sudden and very untimely passing has left us in deep shock and sadness. A cherished colleague always full of energy and enthusiasm. Our thoughts are with his family during this difficult time. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him. Rest in peace, dear friend,” he said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Mr Karandikar said the body has been kept at the IIT-Kanpur’s health centre and the funeral would be performed only after the arrival of his only son Pravah Khandekar who is studying at Cambridge University.

With the debate on the hijab issue continuously heating with each passing day, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara has said that the government will take a decision after looking into the matter deeply.

“We have not made any orders regarding hijab. CM Siddaramaiah himself said that even if it is done, we will check it. The government will take a decision after looking into it deeply,” G Parameshwara told ANI.

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader KT Rama Rao slammed the Congress-led Karnataka government on Sunday, saying that the Siddaramaiah government has not lifted the ban on hijab yet in the state and they are still thinking about it.

“They have not lifted the ban on hijab yet and the CM has said that they are thinking about it. People are seeing the behaviour of Congress–what they say before coming to power and how they change after getting power,” KTR said.

The debate on the hijab issue again rose to prominence after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced in a public meeting that his government would lift the ban on hijab imposed by the previous BJP government in the state.

“We are thinking of withdrawing the decision (of hijab ban). We will discuss it. I have said this in response to a question. We have not done it yet,” the Chief Minister said.

Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai accused current CM Siddaramaiah of hiding the failures of his government as well as raising the issue for only political gains.

He told reporters here on Saturday that the Hijab was not banned all over the state but not allowed where there was a dress code. Muslim women are permitted to wear the hijab everywhere.

“When the Hijab is not banned where is the question of lifting the ban,” he questioned.

The previous BJP government in the State had imposed a hijab ban on students in educational institutions. The matter reached the Karnataka High Court, which also upheld the ban imposed by the then-BJP government. In this regard, the Supreme Court delivered a split verdict, leading to the Karnataka High Court verdict being upheld.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The Israeli military said on Sunday that it recovered the bodies of five hostages who were killed while in Hamas captivity. The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) also released a video showing a Hamas tunnel network in Gaza City after locating three bodies on Sunday, following the retrieval of two others from a different area two weeks ago.

“In a centralized intelligence effort, IDF troops located and recovered the bodies of 5 hostages abducted during the October 7 massacre and brought them back to Israel,” the IDF posted on X.

In a centralized intelligence effort, IDF troops located and recovered the bodies of 5 hostages—abducted during the October 7 Massacre—and brought them back to Israel:

🕯️WO Ziv Dado
🕯️SGT Ron Sherman
🕯️CPL Nik Beizer
🕯️Eden Zacharia
🕯️Elia Toledano

May their memory be a… pic.twitter.com/tq1UlLo8Z2

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 24, 2023

Earlier this month, the bodies of Ziv Dado, a 36-year-old Israeli soldier, and Eden Zakaria, a 27-year-old attendee at a music festival in southern Israel attacked by Hamas, were recovered after being taken hostage on October 7. The remaining three bodies, identified as Sgt Ron Sherman, Cpl Nik Beizer, and Elia Toledano, have now been found on the eve of Christmas.

Footage posted by the IDF on X shows Israeli troops paying their respects to the fallen hostages. “The three fallen soldiers that we have recovered from here today, and it is a supreme value to bring our people to a proper burial in the Land of Israel,” remarked a soldier in the video.

On Saturday, Hamas reported losing contact with a group responsible for the five hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip, speculating that they had been killed during an Israeli raid. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said at least 60 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on Sunday. 

On October 7, Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israel from Gaza. According to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, approximately 1,140 people lost their lives in the assault, with the majority being civilians.

Hamas and other Palestinian militants seized around 250 hostages during the attack. Of these hostages, 105 have been released, while several others have died, including casualties from friendly fire incidents.

In response, Israel launched an unrelenting air and ground offensive with the declared aim of destroying the militant group. According to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, the conflict has claimed the lives of at least 20,424 people, with a disproportionate number being women and children.