FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 12 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR | Friday, 09 January 2026 SPORTS WORLD US seeks to assert its control over Venezuelan oil NATION PERSPECTIVE Cong warns of ‘new abnormal’ phase in India-US ties BRIEFLY B’desh police arrest key accused in Dipu Das's lynching: Dhaka: The Detective Branch (DB) of Bangladesh police on Thursday arrested another prime accused in connection with the murder of a Hindu youth, Dipu Chandra Das, in Mymensingh district. The arrested man, 25-year-old Md Yasin Arafat, is a resident of South Hobirbari's Karaitola Mor in the district and was apprehended on Wednesday from the Sarulia area in Dhaka. On 18 December 2025, a mob lynched Dipu Chandra Das, a worker in a garment factory, in Bangladesh's Mymensingh district. According to reports, Dipu Das, who was beaten to death by a mob over alleged blasphemy charges, had his body hanged and set on fire. According to investigators, Md Yasin Arafat played a leading role in the incident, actively participating in the brutal assault and was also involved in his death. Lessons from past tragedies Page 7 Page 9 Page 5 PM Modi: Indian AI models should be ethical, unbiased, transparent STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE ED moves Calcutta HC, alleges seizure of documents by CM Kolkata, 8 January A dramatic confrontation unfolded in Kolkata on Thursday after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted search operations at the residence of I-PAC founder Pratik Jain and the political consultancy’s office in Salt Lake, triggering an unprecedented intervention by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The ED raids, part of an ongoing investigation into a coal smuggling case, began early in the morning at Mr Jain’s Loudon Street residence and simultaneously at I-PAC’s office in Sector V, Salt Lake. A special ED team from Delhi carried out the searches. As news of the operation spread, tensions escalated sharply, culminating in the Chief Minister herself reaching both locations amid heavy police and Central forces deployment. Miss Banerjee first arrived at Pratik Jain’s Loudon Street residence while the ED search was still underway. She was accompanied by Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma. After spending several minutes inside the house, the Chief Minister emerged holding a green file. At the spot, she alleged that the ED was attempting to confiscate sensitive party-related documents, including the Trinamul Congress’s electoral PARMOD KUMAR New Delhi, 8 January strategy and organisational plans. “They want to take away our party’s hard disks, our candidate lists, our strategy documents. Is this the role of the ED or Amit Shah?” the Chief Minister remarked, directly targeting the Union Home Minister Amit Shah. She further warned that the action amounted to an attempt to cripple the ruling party ahead of elections. Soon after, Miss Banerjee proceeded to reserved orders on the conclusion of hearing lasting for two days. Justice Varma contended that the Speaker’s decision to constitute the inquiry committee stood vitiated after the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha rejected a parallel impeachment notice moved by 62 members of the Upper House on the same day the notice was given in the Lok Sabha. The Court granted time until Monday, 11 January, to Justice Varma’s counsel and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Lok Sabha Speaker, to file their written submissions. The Lok Sabha Speaker had admitted the removal notice against Justice Varma, moved by 146 members of the House, and on 12 August 2025, constituted a threemember committee to examine the allegations. At the time of the incident ~ recovery of semi-burnt cash ~ Justice Varma was serving as a judge of the Delhi High C our t . The committee comprises Supreme Court judge Justice Aravind Kumar, Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava, and senior advocate B. Vasudeva Acharya. Assailing the 12 August decision, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Justice Varma, argued that the power to admit or reject a removal notice under the Judges (Inquiry) Act lay exclusively with the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and could not be exercised by the Deputy Chairman in his absence. The Bench was also told that the order rejecting the notice moved by 62 Rajya Sabha members was flawed, as it was authored by the Secretary-General of the Rajya Sabha, with the Deputy Chairman merely affixing his signature. India winding down Russian oil buys as Trump threats multiply, but defence, nuclear collaboration to intensify JAYANTA ROY CHOWDHURY New Delhi, 8 January As the United States threatened fresh sanctions on countries purchasing Russian oil, Indian companies have slowed or halted crude imports from Russia altogether, senior officials in the Petroleum Ministry said on Thursday. While New Delhi officially maintains that it reserves the right to procure crude oil from any source, it has Page 12 Mamata steps in as ED raids I-PAC chief’s home, office; triggers political flashpoint SC reserves verdict on Justice Yashwant Verma’s plea against impeachment procedure The Supreme C ourt on Thursday reserved its verdict on a plea filed by Allahabad High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma challenging the decision of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to “unilaterally” constitute a three -memb er inquiry committee in connection with impeachment proceedings initiated against him. The challenge relates to the Speaker’s decision to set up the committee to inquire into the alleged recovery of unaccounted cash from Justice Varma’s then official residence in Delhi by personnel of the Delhi Fire Service following an accidental fire on 14 March last year (2025). A Bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice S.C. Sharma Aussies seal 4-1 Ashes series win with five-wicket victory at SCG quietly begun winding down purchases from Russia, even as imports from the United States have increased. However, other officials noted that India is expanding its defence and nuclear cooperation with Moscow encouraging Russia to enter into joint ventures, even as oil trade between the two countries is being scaled back. “We may reduce our oil dependence on Moscow, but not completely stop buying crude from her. However, we do want to encourage the Russians to buy more Indian produce and invest more in joint ventures with the large stock of Indian rupees they have,” said Pinak R Chakravarty, former Secretary (Economic Relations) with the Ministry of External Affairs. State-run oil refiners have been quietly advised to wind down deliveries of Russian crude and limit their purchases from non-sanctioned firms, while Reliance Industries Ltd, the world's largest single site refinery has stated that it has not been receiving any Russian crude for the last three weeks nor expecting any this month. India has also taken a policy decision to limit oil imports from any single country to no more than 25 per cent of its total crude purchases, a move designed to limit exposure to geopolitical shocks and advance its long-term objective of energy self-sufficiency. Officials in New Delhi's petroleum ministry describe the measure as an institutional safeguard, a “shock absorber” for an increasingly volatile global energy market. • Turn to Page 5 Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) moved the Calcutta High Court alleging that documents and digital evidence were forcibly taken away during its search operations at the offices of political consultancy firm Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) and the residence of its founder Pratik Jain on Thursday. The central agency alleged that Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was instrumental in seizing the documents from the custody of the central agency. Seeking permission to file a case against the Head of the state for interfering in its work, the central agency alleged that this act amounted to an abuse of constitutional authority. The matter was admitted by Justice Shubhra Ghosh and is likely to be heard on Friday. According to ED, the raids were conducted at multiple locations in connection with an alleged illegal coal smuggling case. These included I-PAC’s office in Salt Lake, Kolkata, and Pratik Jain’s residence on Loudon Street. Sources in the ED stated that the searches were conducted strictly on the basis of evidence linked to the illegal coal smuggling case, allegedly operated by one Anup Majhi. I-PAC’s Salt Lake office in Sector V, where the ED was continuing its search. By then, the area had been heavily secured, with senior officers of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate present and Central security forces sealing the entry and exit gates of the multi-storeyed building. New Delhi, 8 January Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that India should present a unique AI model to the world that reflects the spirit of “Made in India, Made for the World.” He was chairing a Roundtable with Indian AI start-ups at his residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. Ahead of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 to be held in India next month, 12 Indian AI start-ups who have qualified for the AI for ALL: Global Impact Challenge in the Summit attended the roundtable and presented their ideas and work. Emphasising that startups and AI entrepreneurs are the co-architects of India’s future, the PM said the country has immense capacity for both innovation and large-scale implementation. He highlighted the importance of artificial intelligence in bringing about transformation in society. He noted that India will host the India AI Impact Summit next month, through which the country will play a major role in the technology sector. He highlighted that India is making efforts to bring about a transformation with & leveraging AI. The PM said the world’s trust in India is the country’s biggest strength. He emphasised the need to ensure that Indian AI models are ethical, unbiased, transparent, and based on data privacy principles.