The Allahabad High Court on Friday granted bail to journalist Siddique Kappan on Friday in a money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate, Live Law reported.

Kappan was arrested on October 5, 2020, along with three other men while they were travelling to Hathras, where a Dalit woman was gangraped and killed by four upper-caste Thakur men on September 14, 2020.

The police first accused Kappan of intending to start a caste-based riot and create communal disharmony. Subsequently, sedition charges and provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act were added.

In February 2021, the Enforcement Directorate, which investigates financial crimes, filed a case against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The central agency had claimed that Kappan and three others had received money from the now-banned Popular Front of India to “incite riots”.

On September 9, the Supreme Court had granted bail to Kappan in the UAPA case. However, he continued to remain in jail as a Lucknow court had denied him bail in the money laundering case on October 31.