A Lucknow sessions court on Monday denied Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan’s request for bail after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) brought charges against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
District Judge Sanjay Shankar Pandey finished the hearing in this case on October 12 and reserved judgment. Kappan was represented by Ishan Baghel and Mohd Khalid.
In the case brought against him by the Uttar Pradesh Police under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the Supreme Court granted Kappan bail on September 2022.
Kappan, a journalist for the Malayalam news website Azihmukham, was detained while travelling to Hathras to cover the gangrape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl in October 2020 along with three others. He was then detained in accordance with the UAPA and then the PMLA.
Before the Supreme Court intervened in the UAPA case, he had been denied bail by lower courts and the Allahabad High Court.
He didn’t receive bail in the PMLA case, therefore he remained imprisoned.
