LUCKNOW: Kerala based Journalist Siddique Kappan was was released from Lucknow jail in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday morning after he secured bail in the cases against him.
A single bench of justice DK Singh granted bail to the journalist, noting that the ED’s investigation lacked ascribing any specific role to Kappan in the case relating to an illicit transaction of money to the tune of ₹1.36 crore, allegedly collected by now banned Popular Front of India (PFI) to spread terror in the country.
In the release order, district and sessions judge Sanjay Shanker Pandey directed the Lucknow prison superintendent to release Kappan if he is not wanted in any other
Kappan a reporter and secretary of the Delhi unit of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), was arrested along with three others in UP, while on his way to Hathras to report on the gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl.
He was then booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and later under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He was in District Jail, Lucknow since December 2020.
On September 9, 2022, the Supreme Court too granted bail to Kappan in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act case. However, he remained in prison due to a pending PMLA case. Recently the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on December 23, 2022, granted bail to Kappan in the PMLA case