Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan was on Friday granted bail by Allahabad High Court in a case involving money laundering after being detained on terror-related accusations 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 in the terror case, which was brought under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and other related laws, by the Supreme Court 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.
These men, according to the authorities, 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.
