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In the case of Kerala based journalist Siddique Kappan, today a local court in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh has rejected State Police’s application seeking grant to conduct further investigations.

The plea was made before Additional Sessions Judge Anil Kumar Pandey.

In the application the Uttar Pradesh Police had requested that it is necessary to do further enquiry with the accused regarding a hand written sentence on the SIMI (Students' Islamic Movement of India) related documents found from his room.

It was also requested that the accused’s interrogation was also needed to be done regarding the minutes of the PFI general meeting in which he was allotted some tasks.

However, the advocate appearing for the accused contended that investigation in the matter was complete and the charge sheet was filed on April 3, 2021.

The Court has also sought report from the Jail authorities on August 23, 2021 regarding the submission of the counsel for the accused that the accused has been refused medical treatment.

Along with three others Kappan was arrested on 5 October 2020 under charges related to apprehension of breach of peace when he was on his way to Hathras, Uttar Pradesh to meet the family of the victim of alleged Hathras rape and murder case. Subsequently, he was booked under UAPA and sedition laws too.

Earlier, the Bail plea of Kappan was rejected by the Mathura local court on July 6, 2021. In the four-page judgement, the judge denied the bail on the merits of the case.

Rejecting the bail, the court primarily took into account the finding of the police investigation that the literature and material related to SIMI was found in Kappan’s laptop, besides the contact details of some SIMI members. The court also took note of two financial transactions in Kappan’s bank account which showed that he was provided with the funds to conduct ‘anti-national’ and ‘illegal activities’.

Following the rejection of the bail, an application was filed, on July 21 seeking a copy of the charge sheet for the purpose of filing the bail application and for initiating further legal proceedings but the same has not been considered so far. The same is also expected to be considered on August 23.