The Allahabad High Court granted bail to Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan on Friday in a case brought by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the terms of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
A court in Lucknow filed charges against him and six people under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) earlier this month, paving the way for the trial to commence. KA Rauf Sherif, Atikur Rahman, Masud Ahmad, Mohammad Alam, Abdul Razzak, and Ashraf Khadir are the other defendants.
On October 31, a Lucknow sessions court denied Kappan's bail request in the PMLA case.
In September 2022, the Supreme Court granted Kappan bail in the case filed against him by the Uttar Pradesh Police under the UAPA Act but he still remained in jail he received no relief in the related case filed by the Enforcement Directorate.
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Kappan, a reporter for the Malayalam news portal Azhimukham and the secretary of the Delhi unit of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), was arrested in Uttar Pradesh with three others in October 2020, while on his way to Hathras to report on the gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl.
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According to the police, these men are members of the now-banned Popular Front of India and its student arm, Campus Front of India (CFI). They have denied any involvement in terror acts or finance, claiming that they were just visiting Hathras for journalistic purposes.
(With Inputs From Agencies)