Despite Supreme Court bail, Siddique Kappan to remain in jail in ED case: Prison officials

Despite the Supreme Court granting him bail on Friday, journalist Siddique Kappan will remain in jail over a pending case against him, PTI reported today. The ED had filed this case against Kappan and four others in February 2021 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Santosh Verma, the DG Jail PRO, told the news agency: “Kappan will continue to remain in jail as a case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate is still pending.”

This was corroborated by Ashish Tiwari, senior superintendent of Lucknow Jail, who told the Times of India: “Siddique is yet to obtain bail in the PMLA case pending against him. So far, he has got bail in other cases. Once he obtains bail in the ED case, he will be released.”

Kappan had been arrested in October 2020 while on his way to Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras to report on the gangrape and death of a Dalit woman. He was booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and charged with sedition. The UP government believes he was part of a larger conspiracy to “foment religious discord and spread terror in the country”.

Kappan remained in jail for over 700 days before the Supreme Court granted him bail on September 9. On the same day, his wife Raihanath said they had moved a bail application with respect to the money laundering case.

But what is this case against Kappan? The ED had claimed that one Rouf Sharif, a student wing leader of the Popular Front of India, had “funded” Kappan’s trip to Hathras. This was reiterated by the UP police in its chargesheet against Kappan – it pointed at a cash transfer in Kappan’s bank account as proof of his “connections” to PFI. Read Newslaundry’s report for more.