Journalist Siddique Kappan denied bail in PMLA case

A Lucknow sessions court today rejected journalist Siddique Kappan’s bail plea in a case filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The hearing had concluded earlier this month and district judge Sanjay Shankar Pandey had reserved verdict on October 12.

Kappan will now continue to remain in jail.

The Enforcement Directorate had filed the case against Kappan and others in February 2021. Although Kappan was granted bail by the Supreme Court in September in the UAPA case against him, he was not released since he was yet to get bail in the PMLA case.

Kappan had been arrested in October 2020 and while on his way to Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras to report on the gangrape and death of a Dalit woman. He was booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and charged with sedition. The UP government believes he was part of a larger conspiracy to “foment religious discord and spread terror in the country”.

He remained in jail for over 700 days before the Supreme Court granted him bail on September 9.

Under the PMLA case, Kappan and three others are accused of receiving money from the Popular Front of India to “incite riots”. The ED had claimed that one Rouf Sharif, a PFI student wing leader, had “funded” Kappan’s trip to Hathras. This was reiterated by the UP police in its chargesheet against Kappan – it pointed at a cash transfer in Kappan’s bank account as proof of his “connections” to PFI.

Read Newslaundry’s report on this purported PFI nexus, as detailed in the chargesheet.