A Lucknow court on Tuesday framed charges against Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan in a case initiated against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)..District Judge Sanjay Shankar Pandey framed charges against Kappan and six others under Sections 3 (offence of money laundering) and 4 (punishment for money laundering) of the PMLA.Charges have not been framed in the predicate offence yet.The hearing will begin from December 17..Advocates Ishan Baghel and Mohd Khalid appeared for Kappan..On October 31, a sessions court in Lucknow had rejected Kappan's bail plea in the PMLA case initiated against him by the ED.In September 2022, the Supreme Court had granted bail to Kappan in the case filed against him by the Uttar Pradesh Police under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)..Kappan, a reporter for Malayalam news portal Azhimukham, and secretary of the Delhi unit of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), was arrested along with three others in Uttar Pradesh in October 2020, 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 UAPA and later under the PMLA.In the UAPA case, he was denied bail by lower courts and the Allahabad High Court, before the top court granted him relief.However, he continued to remain in prison since he was yet to get bail in the PMLA case.
A Lucknow court on Tuesday framed charges against Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan in a case initiated against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)..District Judge Sanjay Shankar Pandey framed charges against Kappan and six others under Sections 3 (offence of money laundering) and 4 (punishment for money laundering) of the PMLA.Charges have not been framed in the predicate offence yet.The hearing will begin from December 17..Advocates Ishan Baghel and Mohd Khalid appeared for Kappan..On October 31, a sessions court in Lucknow had rejected Kappan's bail plea in the PMLA case initiated against him by the ED.In September 2022, the Supreme Court had granted bail to Kappan in the case filed against him by the Uttar Pradesh Police under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)..Kappan, a reporter for Malayalam news portal Azhimukham, and secretary of the Delhi unit of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), was arrested along with three others in Uttar Pradesh in October 2020, 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 UAPA and later under the PMLA.In the UAPA case, he was denied bail by lower courts and the Allahabad High Court, before the top court granted him relief.However, he continued to remain in prison since he was yet to get bail in the PMLA case.