The Allahabad High Court on Friday granted bail to journalist Siddique Kappan on Friday in a money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate, Live Law reported.
Kappan was arrested on 5 October 2020, along with three other men while they were travelling to Hathras, where a Dalit woman was gangraped and killed by four upper-caste Thakur men on 14 September 2020.
The police first accused Kappan of intending to start a caste-based riot and create communal disharmony. Subsequently, sedition charges and provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act were added.
In February 2021, the Enforcement Directorate, which investigates financial crimes, filed a case against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The central agency had claimed that Kappan and three others had received money from the now-banned Popular Front of India to “incite riots”.
On 9 September, the Supreme Court had granted bail to Kappan in the UAPA case. However, he continued to remain in jail as a Lucknow court had denied him bail in the money laundering case on 31 October.
