Clarion Inida
NEW DELHI – Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan was granted bail on Friday by the High Court in a money laundering case after already getting bail in the UAPA case. He was arrested while travelling to UP’s Hathras to cover the rape and murder of a Dalit woman two years ago.
He had already been granted bail by the Supreme Court in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case and other related laws in September but he continued to be detained in Lucknow because the Enforcement Directorate’s related case had not yet yielded any resolution.
He and six other people were charged earlier this month in Lucknow by a court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). KA Rauf Sherif, Atikur Rahman, Masud Ahmad, Mohammad Alam, Abdul Razzak, and Ashraf Khadir are the other defendants.
The authorities claimed that these men are members of the now-outlawed Popular Front of India (PFI) and its student arm, Campus Front of India (CFI). The accused asserted that they were visiting Hathras solely for journalistic purposes and denied any role in financing or participating in terrorist activities.