Kappan along with Rahman, Masud Ahmed and Alam was arrested in October last year while they were heading to Hathras where a 19-year old Dalit woman had allegedly been gang-raped and murdered. The FIR against them claimed that they were going to Hathras with an intention “to breach the peace” as part of a “conspiracy”. The court rejected the application primarily on the basis of the alleged material collected against him during the investigation. The court noted that he along with co accused committed acts which affected communal harmony. It also observed that it had been found out that he is a worker of PFI and has been indulged in anti-national acts. Additionally Kappan had submitted that he wanted to proceed to Hathras in the capacity of a journalist but the identity card found with him was of a news platform which had stopped operations in the year 2018.
