KOCHI: Uttar Pradesh Police, which are investigating Malayali journalist Siddique Kappan and three others over their alleged involvement in stoking social unrest in the wake of the Hathras gangrape, will take Campus Front of India national general secretary KA Rauf Sherif to Mathura. A source in Kerala Police said the UP Police armed with a production warrant will arrive here soon to take custody of Rauf. He is currently lodged at the District Jail in Kakkanad following arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case.
UP police had sought information from the ED on money transferred by Rauf to the persons who had been arrested in Uttar Pradesh last year following the Hathras incident. “We have information that a police team from UP will be taking Rauf to the Mathura court where the FIR in the case is registered.
They will have to file a petition before the Special Court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) which had remanded Rauf in judicial custody in the ED case. Most likely a petition will be moved by next week,” the source said.
Ateequr Rahman, Siddique Kappan, Masood Ahmed and Alam were intercepted at Maant Toll Plaza near Mathura on their way to Hathras after the gangrape incident. UP Police claim that they intended to disrupt social harmony. According to the FIR, mobile phones, laptop and suspicious literature were recovered from them.
UP police have charged various Sections of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against them and all four are still in judicial custody. In a recent report filed before the court, the ED had stated that Rauf credited the money to the account of Ateequr and directed him to go to Hathras with a delegation.