The Editorial Page: Beyond Maduro, why Delhi has a new window of opportunity in the region 8 TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2026 JOURNALISm of COURAGE KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 16 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 Happening today 2020 DELHI RIOTS CASES: BENCH CITES ‘HIERARCHY OF PARTICIPATION’ lA COURT IN SURAJPUR will No bail for Umar & Sharjeel as SC makes distinction; five get relief lELECTION COMMISSION of Can renew bail pleas after examination of witnesses or completion of a year: SC hear the Akhlaq lynching case. After rejecting the UP govt’s plea to withdraw all charges against the accused, the court had on December 23 fast-tracked the trial. India is scheduled to publish the draft list under the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh. lWEST BENGAL CM Mamata Banerjee to move court against the SIR of electoral rolls, alleging it has triggered fear, harassment and administrative arbitrariness. lSOMALIA’S PRESIDENT will visit close ally Turkey following Israel’s recognition of the selfproclaimed republic of Somaliland. Ankara has denounced Israel’s move, calling it “overt interference in Somalia’s domestic affairs”. TRACk THESE AND MORE ON WWW.INDIANExPREss.cOM EDraidsclimate group,claims gotforeign fundstosway govtpolicies Deeptiman Tiwary & Amitabh Sinha New Delhi, January 5 THE ENFORCEMENT Directorate (ED) on Monday conducted searches at premises linked to climate advocacy groupSatatSampadaPvtLtdin a case of alleged foreign exchange violations, with the agency claiming that the company is “suspected” to be receiving funds from abroad to “run narratives to influence government policies in the energy sector”. The company, which also runs the NGO Satat Sampada Climate Foundation, is cofounded by well-known climate activist Harjeet Singh. According to ED sources, theagencyconductedsearches at the premises of an office, a business store and two residences connected to the company in Delhi and Ghaziabad. “Thekeyissues tobeexamined are end-use of forex money received by them from foreign NGOs and the groups it influences in the name of consultancy,” a senior ED official said. Late evening, the agency claimed to have recovered more than 45 litres of “unlicensed liquor”, including bottlesofbrandssuchasChivas Regal and Glenmorangie, from premises allegedly linked to SinghandhiswifeandSatatcofounder Jyoti Awasthi. Singh did not respond to calls and messages from The Indian Express seeking comment about the ED’s searches and allegations. A globally recognised face in climate circles, Singh has been a prominent non-government voice for over two »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ananthakrishnan G New Delhi, January 5 CITING “HIERARCHY of participation”, the Supreme Court onMondaydeniedbailtoUmar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case, saying the prosecution material shows their “central and formative role” and “involvement at the level of planning, mobilisation and strategic direction”. Sayingthatallaccuseddon't stand on the same footing, the bench of Justices Aravind KumarandNVAnjariagranted conditionalbailtofiveothersin the case — Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohammad Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmed. “All the appellants do not stand on equal footing as regards culpability...Thehierarchyofparticipationemergingfromtheprosecution’scaserequiresthecourt toexamineeachapplicationindividually,” the bench said. Saying that there was a prima facie case against Khalid and Imam under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the courtsaidit“issatisfiedthatthe prosecution material, taken at face value as required at this stage,disclosesaprimafacieattribution of a central and business as Usual By EP UNNY l THEcAsEAGAINsTTHEsEVEN UmarKhalidandsharjeelImam The two, according to the prosecution, were the first ones to act after the Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed in early December 2019, by creating WhatsApp groups and distributing pamphlets in Muslim populated areas calling for protests and chakka-jam. Thefivewhogotbail GULFISHA FATIMA She was part of a group called Pinjra Tod, which police claimed was one of the groups behind the alleged plot. SHIFA UR REHMAN Accused of misusing his position in the Alumni Association of Jamia Millia Islamia to finance the riots. MEERAN HAIDER Accused of crowdfunding the protests, allegedly received funds from several individuals, including witnesses. MOHD SALEEM KHAN He was alleged to be one of the main organisers at the Chand Bagh anti-CAA protest site. SHADAB AHMED Allegedly played a vital role in orchestrating the riots, leading protest intended to paralyse Delhi. INsIDE A bIttErSwEEt vErdICtforkINof 5 who got bAIL P 6 SC CrEAtES hIErArChy of offENdErS P 7 formative role by the appellants…Umar Khalid and SharjeelImamintheallegedconspiracy. The material suggests involvement at the level of planning, mobilisation and strategic direction, extending »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Supreme Court expands definition of terror, raises bar for granting bail Apurva Vishwanath New Delhi, January 5 FROM ENDORSING an expansivedefinitionofa“terroristact” to drawing a hierarchy among the accused and justifying prolonged pre-trial incarceration, the Supreme Court Monday, in denying bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, effectively raised the bar even higher for those seeking bail under stringent anti-terror laws. “While the period of incarcerationundergonebytheseappellants is substantial and has beendulyconsidered,theCourt isnotpersuadedthat,on the present record, continued detention has crossed the threshold of constitutional impermissibility so as to overridethestatutoryembargo.The complexity of the prosecution, the nature of evidence relied upon, and the stage of the pro- ceedings do not justify their enlargement on bail at this juncture,” the Court said. TheCourtalsocitedanother reasontojustifypre-trial detention of Khalid and Imam: ensuring that they do not attempt to influence protected witnesses in the case. The SC allowed the two accused to approach the trial court again for bail after one year or after E. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Call on Bangladesh seamer’s IPL ouster taken at top level in BCCI ‘No discussion’ among Board members or consultation with IPL before KKR told to release Mustafizur Devendra Pandey Mumbai, January 5 THE DECISION to instruct IPL franchiseKolkataKnightRiders to release Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman from its squad wasn't the outcome of discussionsamongmembersof the Indian cricket board — the ExPREss exclusive league’s governing council wasn’t consulted, either. Thedecision,whichresulted inBangladeshrefusingtotravel to India for next month's T20 World Cup, was taken at the Another Hindu man shot in head in Bangladesh Press Trust of India Dhaka, January 5 A HINDU businessman, who was also the acting editor of a newspaper, was fatally shot in theheadbyunidentifiedassailants on Monday in Jessore district in southern Bangladesh, officials said. Rana Pratap Bairagi, 38, was a resident of Arua village in Keshabpur upazila of Jessore in Khulna Division, Bangla-language daily Prothom Alo reported. The incident occurred around5:45pmatKopaliyaBazaar on Monday, bdnews24 news portal quoted Additional Police Superintendent Abul Basar as saying. Bairagi, who owned an icemaking factory in Kopaliya Bazaar, was also the acting editor of a newspaper called Dainik BDKhabarpublishedfromNarail, according to Prothom Alo. Citing locals and the police, »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 highest level in the board, The Indian Express has learnt. “We ourselves got to know about this through the media. There was no discussion. No suggestion was taken from our side,” a top BCCI official, who is also associated with the IPL, told this newspaper. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INsIDE POLITICS gErmANy’S mErz to vISIt INdIA oN JAN 12, mEEt Pm P 5 THE WORLD mAdUro PLEAdS Not gUILty IN drUgS CASE P 10 l PONgAL COMINg, JANA NAYAGAN AND PARASAKTHI RELEASE BACk TO BACk Vijay farewell vs Stalin kin’s big-budget debut: TN’s political fight on big screen Arun Janardhanan In the narrow space between those two mornings, TamilNaduwilldowhatitdoes ON PAPER, it is a Pongal clash. best. It will turn a festival into a Inpractice,itisadressrehearsal. referendum. Then it will go Two films. Two release dates. back to work. There is a political fight, of Twocampsthatspeaklikeparty course. But the fight mouthpieces even PAGE 1 is also personal, bewhen they say they tween DMK leader are only talking Udhayanidhi Stalin’s aboutcinema.Vijay’s JanaNayaganlandsfirst,onJa- ecosystemandVijay’snewparty, nuary 9. Parasakthi, produced Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. Jana Nayagan is being by a member of the DMK first family,followsonJanuary10,its billed as Vijay’s last screen apdate having been advanced pearance before a full-fledged from January 14. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Chennai, January 5 anchor Jana Nayagan will be released January 9, Parasakthi the next day Kolkata US President Donald Trump with Senator Lindsey graham aboard Air Force One on Sunday. REUTERS ‘CAN RAISE TARIFFS QUICKLY’ India’s cut Russian oil: Senator; Trump says Modi knew ‘I was not happy’ Hope for movement before new US envoy Sergio Gor takes charge Shubhajit Roy & Ravi Dutta Mishra New Delhi, January 5 VETERAN REPUBLICAN leader and US Senator Lindsey Graham, chairman of the SenateBudgetCommittee,hassaid that Indian Ambassador to the USVinayKwatrainformedhim about New Delhi reducing its purchases of Russian oil and asked him to convey to President Donald Trump to “relieve the tariff” imposed on India. Graham, standing next to USPresidentDonaldTrumpon Air Force One Sunday, spoke about his tariff bill that seeks to impose 500 per cent levies on imports from countries buying Russian oil. Trump said Prime Minister NarendraModi“knewIwasnot happy” with India’s purchases of Russian oil and that Washington can raise tariffs on New Delhi “very quickly”. Trump and Graham’s remarks come when India is on thepathtoreducingoilimports from Russia, ever since the 25percenttariffswereimposed »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2