Siddique Kappan is closely associated with anti-national agenda-driven PFI and using the garb of Journalism: UP Govt tells Supreme Court

The UP Govt told the SC that Siddiqui Kappan has deep nexus with PFI and he was part of a larger terror conspiracy

September 6, 2022

Siddique Kappan’s a PFI man, not a journalist: UP Govt tells SC

Opposing the bail petition, the Uttar Pradesh government told Supreme Court that Siddique Kappan is closely associated with the anti-national agenda-driven Popular Front of India (PFI) and was using the garb of journalism. In an affidavit filed before the apex court on Monday, the UP government has said that Kappan has close links with the extremist organization Popular Front of India (PFI), which has an anti-national agenda and he was part of the larger conspiracy with the co-accused (including the financial launderer of CFI (PFI’s student wing Campus Front of India, Rauf Sharif) to foment religious discord and spread terror in the country.

“The investigation has revealed that the petitioner is part of the larger conspiracy with the co-accused (including the financial launderer of CFI, Rauf Sharif) to foment religious discord and spread terror in the country, especially in the wake of anti-CAA protests and violence, the Babri Masjid decision of this Hon’ble Court and the Hathras incident. The anti-national and terrorist PFI conspiracy and agenda dates back to 2010 (when PFI cadres (ex SIMI) had brutally maimed (hacked off the hands) of Christian Lecturer T J Thomas of Newman College, and to 2013 when a PFI-backed weapon training terrorist camp was raided by the Kerala police at Narath, an investigation which was later taken over by the NIA,” it was submitted.

Siddique Kappan hailing from Kerala was working as a journalist in the Delhi bureau of Thejas newspaper (now closed down) owned by PFI. He was also office secretary of PFI’s Delhi Office in Shaheen Bagh and was staying in the same building which is also having a PFI-linked NGO claiming in Human Rights activism. PFI is a notorious organization involved in radical Islamist movements and involved in brutally attacking or even eliminating those who oppose their ideology. Interestingly, Kappan was also Secretary of the Delhi Unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (a pro-Left organization), while covertly acting as PFI’s office secretary.

Siddique Kappan was arrested by UP Police along with two PFI activists on October 5, 2020, on their way to Hathras where agitations were going on against the rape and murder of a Dalit girl. Kappan is in prison for charges of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the trial court and High Court rejected his bail applications.

ED in December 2020 nabbed PFI’s main financier Rauf Sharif from Thiruvananthapuram Airport while trying to flee to Oman. He is caught for Rs.2 crore money trails with PFI operators in India, basically hailing from Kerala[1]

The UP government’s affidavit says though Kappan claimed he is a reporter of a Malayalam news portal Azhimukham and secretary of the Delhi unit of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) and used the garb of journalism, he was arrested along with PFI activists to create communal tension in Hathras. The affidavit filed by the UP government said that Kappan was arrested when traveling with persons who were named accused in previous riot cases.

“It has come out in the investigation that the petitioner was actually part of the PFI/ CFI delegation to meet the family of the Hathras victim and foment discord and spread terror. Investigation revealed that the delegation was sent to Hathras on the directions of co-accused Rauf Sharif (National General Secretary, CFI, prime fundraiser, and financial transaction handler for PFI/ CFI), who had also provided finances for the trip,” the affidavit said.

Kappan’s assertion that he was going to Hathras as a “journalist” is clearly a mere cover-up, the UP government said opposing the bail application Siddique Kappan claiming the “garb of journalism”.

“Even the statement of the Editor of Azhimukhum, annexed to the petition, nowhere states that the said publication had deputed the Petitioner to cover the Hathras incident, it merely states that the petitioner had at 12.10 am on 5.10.2022, sent the office a WhatsApp message that he is going to Hathras,” the affidavit said. It further stated that Kappan was earlier working with Thejas newspaper which was the mouthpiece of PFI before it shut down in 2018.

“The publication was compelled to shut down in India in 2018 amidst reports (including by a Kerala High Court-appointed independent committee) that the paper’s coverage was aimed at creating religious discord,” it was submitted. He still continued to have a close relationship with the P Koya also known as Prof. Koya) Editor-in-Chief of Thejas as was evident from WhatsApp chats, the State said. P Koya from Kerala is the top leader of PFI.

“Further messages in 2018 are sent by P Koya (Top leader of PFI) to the petitioner warning him of government raids on Bhima Koregaon activists. Moreover, and most importantly, there is a constant exchange of messages in which P Koya suggests stories that the petitioner can write and make viral and the petitioner then writes such stories from a communal strife/ fomenting angle in Azhimukham and sends the same to P Koya,” it was stated.

The affidavit also contended how the petitioner has been unable to explain the source of the cash deposit of Rs.45,000 recovered from him.

“In the present petition, the petitioner has claimed that the Rs.25,000 of 15.09.2020 was money deposited by him which he had saved to construct a house and that the ₹20,000 of 4.10.2020 was money that had been borrowed by friends and returned to him. However, in his supplementary rejoinder before High Court, the petitioner has (at p.364) stated (sic) that “the alleged payments made to the applicant are relating to his salary paid for working at Thejas Daily.” Thus, there is a clear contradiction in the Petitioner’s own version of the source of the said funds,” the affidavit stated.

Reference:

[1] ED nabs PFI student wing leader from airport trying to flee to Oman. UP Police to join interrogation. Found more than two crores in bank accounts. – Dec 13, 2020, PGurus.com

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