A Lucknow court on October 31, 2022, rejected the bail plea of Siddique Kappan in the money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED has filed a case against Kappan under the anti-money laundering law, on charges of obtaining money from abroad illegally and utilizing the same for Hathras case.
Kappan was arrested in April 2021 by the Uttar Pradesh police in Mathura while he was on his way to Hathras along with the members of the banned Islamist organization Popular Front of India (PFI). The Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh filed a 5,000-page charge sheet in Mathura court against Kappan and PFI members for trying to incite communal riots in UP. Kappan and the PFI cadres were accused of receiving international funds to incite caste riots in Uttar Pradesh using the October 2020 case of the gangrape and murder of a scheduled caste girl in Hathras. Siddique was charged under sections 17/18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Sections 120B 153A/295A IPC, and 65/72 IT Act.
On September 9, 2022, Kappan was granted bail by the Supreme Court and asked to not leave Delhi for the next six weeks. The apex court allowed him to return to Kerala after six weeks on the condition that he shall mark his presence with the local police station every week, along with some other conditions.
The Uttar Pradesh government had filed an affidavit in the apex court and opposed giving bail to Kappan and said that he has deep links with the banned Islamist outfit PFI. Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani appearing for the State of Uttar Pradesh in the court said that provocative literature found with Kappan was a “toolkit” to incite riots.
Earlier in the charge sheet filed by the ED in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court, it was informed KA Rauf Sherif, the national general secretary of the student’s wing of the PFI, Campus Front of India (CFI), who was linked in the Hathras conspiracy case, raised funds through PFI members in the Gulf and channeled the money into India through fraudulent transactions.
