UP court dismisses STF plea to question Kerala journo Kappan again

Mathura: The UP Special Task Force's (STF) plea seeking the custody of Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan for further questioning has been rejected by a Mathura court, citing an already submitted charge sheet against him.

As per reports, Additional District and Sessions Judge Anil Kumar Pandey rejected the Special Task Force plea, saying that the accused cannot be allowed to be interrogated again after the charge sheet in the case has already been filed.

Mr Kappan is presently lodged in judicial custody in a terror case, involving instigating unrest and funding it after the death of a Hathras woman, set ablaze after her rape and brutalisation.

"The prosecution's request at a stage when the charge-sheet has already been submitted in the court cannot be accepted and merits rejection," ADSJ Pandey said in his order on Monday.

In its plea to the court, the STF had said Mr Kappan's Delhi residence was raided on November 11 last year, during which a booklet of the outlawed terror outfit SIMMI with some handwritten remarks on its was found.

The booklet had been sent to the Agra forensic laboratory for matching Mr Kappan's handwriting to that on the book but the laboratory in its report on June 21 this year has said the two handwritings did not match, the STF's plea said.

Accordingly, the accused needed to be interrogated about the booklet and the handwritten remarks on it, it said.

Defence counsel Madhuban Datt Chaturvedi said the STF had sought to interrogate Mr Kappan on an issue forming part of a previously conducted and concluded probe.

It was not about any matter for further or additional investigation, he said.

After filing the charge-sheet in the court, the investigation on any point conducted earlier, cannot be allowed under section 173 (8) of the Criminal Procedure Code, he said.