SAMBALPUR l friday l january 09, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l CITY EDITION Sonam Wangchuk’s speech aimed to quell violence, Wife tells SC Jailed activist Sonam Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali J Angmo, told the SC on Thursday that facts are being manipulated to portray him as a criminal ‘not given full grounds of detention’ leh DM sticks to charges against activist Angmo said Wangchuk was neither given the “complete grounds” of his detention, not an opportunity for a representation against his arrest. “The tenor of the speech is not in any sense threatening the security of the state or that I will continue such activities or to propagate violence, but to quell it.” Wangchuk was detained under the NSA unfortunate events of violence in Leh on September 24 cannot be attributed to actions or statements of Wangchuk in any manner ■ The Leh District Magistrate had earlier told the court Wangchuk “indulged in activities prejudicial to the security of the state” ■ Angmo, in her plea through senior advocate Kapil Sibal, said the 12 months is the maximum detention period under the stringent nsa CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI More tariff terror as Don OKs bill on Russia curbs Trump greenlights bill that could impose 500% levy on India for buying Russian oil J ayanth J a c ob @ New Delhi India could face punitive US trade action in the form of tariffs as high as 500% after President Donald Trump reportedly agreed to let a long-pending legislation on Russian sanctions move forward, potentially setting up a Senate vote as early as next week. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Wednesday that Trump had “greenlit” the bipartisan bill after they met at the White House. “President Trump will allow the sanctions bill to move forward,” Graham said, and added that a vote could come soon, though the bill’s fate in Congress remains uncertain. The legislation, formally titled the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025, seeks to impose steep tariffs and secondary sanctions, running as high as 500%, on countries that continue to do business with Russia, particularly those importing Russian energy. India and China, the world’s two largest buyers of discounted Russian crude since the start of the Ukraine conflict, would be directly in the firing line. “This will be well-timed, as Ukraine is making concessions for peace and Putin is all talk, continuing to kill the innocent,” Graham said. The bill has been spearheaded by Graham alongside Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal and has accumulated dozens of co-sponsors in the Senate, with a companion measure introduced in the House of Representatives. Its stated aim is to choke off funding for ‘Russia’s war efforts’ by targeting energy revenues that have remained more or less steady despite earlier Western sanctions. Under the proposal, the US would impose tariffs of at least 500% on all Russian goods and services imported into the United States. Crucially the same , level of duties would also apply to imports from countries that “knowingly” purchase Russian- shocker charges of sexual assault against coach A top shooting national coach was suspended after a minor shooter alleged sexual assault at a posh Surajkund hotel. An FIR has been filed and National Rifle Association of India took action against coach Ankush Bharadwaj. The alleged incident took place during shooting national competition in December last year | P13 Didi crashes ED’s I-PAC raid party, seizes key documents S U B H E N D U M A I T I @ Kolkata THE Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s raids at the office of political consultancy firm I-PAC and the residence of its director Pratik Jain in Kolkata on Thursday in connection with a money laundering probe turned into high drama as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stormed in a n d t o o k aw ay s o m e documents. Mamata, who entered Jain’s house at Loudon Street with police escort while the ED searches were still going on, came out with a green folder, which she claimed contained details of TMC candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls. “They were confiscating my party’s documents and hard disks, which have details about our party candidates for the assembly polls. I have brought those back,” she said. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee comes out of I-PAC chief Pratik Jain’s house with a green folder in hand, which she said contained her party’s documents | pti I-PAC, which offers political consultancy to the TMC, also manages the party’s IT and media operations. Banerjee alleged ED officials walked away with TMC’s internal strategy documents. “Is it the duty of the ED to collect political party data?” she asked. She then proceeded to the IPAC office in Salt Lake and spent an hour there. Her security personnel were seen tak- Bomb threats trigger security alert in HC, courts Narendra Modi Donald Trump ISA focus on its mission, says govt 1 Following the US exit from 66 international organisations, including the India-backed International Solar Alliance (ISA), the government said the alliance remains focused on its objective of supporting member countries to scale up solar energy 2 Govt sources said the ISA will continue to work with member countries, particularly least developed countries and small island developing states, on the development and deployment of solar energy. Its work includes mobilising finance, building capacity, and reducing risk perceptions 3 “ISA today represents 125 member/signatory countries. ISA remains focused on its objective of supporting member countries in collectively addressing key common challenges to scaling up of solar energy, in line with their needs, to achieve universal energy access,” said sources origin oil, gas, uranium and petroleum products. The bill also mandates visa bans and asset freezes on senior Russian officials and foreign entities found to be supplying defence equipment to Moscow, while directing the Treasury Department to sanction Russian state-owned financial institutions. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e s @ Bhubaneswar/Cuttack Security agencies were mobilised and emergency protocols activated in the Orissa High Court and other subordinate courts in at least three districts after bomb threats were received through email on Thursday . The sender reportedly claimed to be a member of militant organisation LTTE and threatened to blow up the courts using RDX. The anonymous email threatening to destroy court complexes was received at several courts in Cuttack, Sambalpur and Deogarh in the morning. According to a statement by the state police headquarters, security arrangements were im- Sniffer dogs deployed in the Orissa High Court following email threats on Thursday mediately tightened with thorough checks and surveillance put in place. The Orissa High Court as well as the Cuttack District and Sessions Court cam- SC slams Cab Secy for not filing affidavit on pvt univ regulation S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Thursday slammed the Cabinet Secretary to the Union of India for flouting its directions to file an affidavit in connection with the regulation of private universities in the country . “We are really surprised as to how the Cabinet Secretary was under the misconception that despite a categorical order of the court that the affidavit has to be affirmed by him, he has not filed it and has instead been filed by the Secretary of the Higher Education Department,” a bench of justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and N V Anjaria said. They had in November 2025 directed a nationwide audit of private universities after it found that Amity University had harassed a student for changing her name. The court said it is getting loads of letters and petitions, some of them with evidence, from across India on the matter. puses along with the courts in other districts were vacated after the bomb threat. Police as well as anti-bomb squads were deployed and premises of the courts were sanitised before the proceedings resumed later in the afternoon. The situation is being closely monitored, police said. During checking of the court campuses in Cuttack, police did not find any explosives. “No explosive material or any suspicious object was detected on the premises of the court,” said Cuttack DCP Khilari Rishikesh Dnyandeo. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi held discussions with chief secretary Anu Garg, DGP YB Khurania and other senior officials and took stock of the situation. He directed the police to issue a standard operating procedure (SOP) and remain alert at all times in view of the bomb threats.  Continued on P7 ing away several files. The ED said the raids were not against any political party , adding that simultaneous searches were conducted at 10 locations in Delhi and West Bengal in connection with a multi-crore coal scam. Later in the day, the ED moved the Calcutta High Court against Mamata alleging interference in its investigation. The HC is expected to take up the matter on Friday . express read JSW subsidiary to set up 6 MTPA steel plant in Dhenkanal district Bhubaneswar: The high-level clearance authority (HLCA) chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Thursday approved seven major industrial projects including a 6 million tonne steel plant project in Dhenkanal district with investment of `35,000 crore by Saffron Resources Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of JSW Group. This is the third mega project proposal of JSW in the state after the Paradip greenfield steel project with a capacity of 13.2 MTPA and investment of `65,000 crore and the proposed 12 MTPA mega plant in Keonjhar district in joint venture with Korean steel major POSCO | P3