Activist Sadaf Jafar, ex-IPS officer Darapuri, 13 others held for anti-CAA protests granted bail
Lucknow, Jan 4: A court here granted bail on Saturday to social activist Sadaf Jafar and former IPS officer SR Darapuri, besides 13 others arrested in connection with anti-CAA protests in Lucknow.
The court of Additional Sessions Judge SS Pandey asked the accused to furnish two sureties of Rs 50,000 each and personal bonds of an equal amount.
The judge had reserved his orders on the bail applications of Jafar, Darapuri and the other accused on Friday, after hearing the individual pleas as well as the submissions of the government lawyer.
According to government lawyer Deepak Yadav, the Hazratganj police had booked the other accused on December 19 under IPC sections, including 147 (rioting), 307 (attempt to murder), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).
The accused were arrested in the case and sent to judicial custody.
On Thursday, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file its reply within two weeks on a petition seeking quashing of the FIR filed against Jafar for her participation in a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment ) Act (CAA).
A bench of justices Shabihul Hasnain and Virendra Kumar II passed the order on a writ petition moved on Jafar's behalf.
Apart from challenging the FIR and seeking declaration of her arrest as illegal, the petitioner has also demanded that the investigation into the matter be conducted by an officer of the rank of superintendent of police and under the court's supervision.
The court posted the matter after two weeks for the next hearing.
Jafar was arrested on December 19 for protesting here against the amended citizenship law.
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ED searches: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah accuses Centre of targeting Cong leaders
Chamarajanagara (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday accused the central government and its agencies of consistently targeting Congress members by using searches on their properties, and questioned why similar action is not taken against BJP leaders.
He was reacting to searches conducted by the Enforcement Directorate on Monday on several individuals, among them the sons of Karnataka Congress MLA N A Haris and the grandson of former Union Cabinet minister K Rahman Khan, in connection with a cryptocurrency-linked money laundering case.
"The central government always targets Congress leaders. Will they raid the houses of BJP leaders?" Siddaramaiah said in response to a question. More than a dozen premises in the city were searched as part of the operation carried out by the ED under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The premises searched comprised those of Mohammed Haris Nalapad and Omar Farook Nalapad, the sons of the MLA; Aqeeb Khan, the grandson of veteran Congress leader K Rahman Khan; and an alleged crypto hacker, Srikrishna Ramesh, alias Sriki, officials said.
The money laundering case stems from Karnataka Police FIRs and charge sheets filed in a 2017 case involving the hacking of national and international websites, theft of bitcoins, and the sale of these stolen virtual digital assets (VDAs) through crypto platforms by the alleged hacker Sriki and his associates.
Mohammed Haris Nalapad, Omar Farook Nalapad, and Aqeeb Khan are alleged to be beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime generated through this crypto-linked activity, officials added.
