UP Police Retract Application for Siddique Kappan's Voice Sample
Raghavi Sharma
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New Delhi: Days after the UP Police’s Special Task Force (STF) sought directives to obtain a voice sample of journalist Siddique Kappan, it withdrew its application filed for the same at a local court in Mathura.
According to a report in the Indian Express, Additional Superintendent of Police, STF, Raj Kumar Mishra said that the request was withdrawn on technical grounds. "We would again move court seek permission to collect Kappan’s voice sample, "Mishra added.
“Kappan’s lawyer raised objection on various grounds including security concern in taking him (Kappan) to Lucknow. STF withdrew its request petition of seeking his voice sample on Thursday,” said district government counsel Mathura, Shivram Singh.
The STF had moved two applications in a local court seeking permission to take Kappan to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Lucknow, to collect his voice sample and handwriting sample for investigation in the case. The voice sample was reportedly sought to match a voice message recovered from Kappan’s cellphone and a handwriting sample written in English found at his residence.
Also read: UP Police Seek Permission to Collect Voice, Writing Samples of Siddque Kappan
According to a previous report, the police claimed that they had recovered six cellphones from the possession of the four accused. These were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Agra for ab examination and one of the cellphones belonged to Kappan, they said. The laboratory’s report refers to a voice message in Malayalam sent to a person from Kappan’s cellphone, as per the police. The STF needs Kappan’s voice sample to verify the voice, seeking the court’s direction to take the journalist to the FSL and collect a sample.
Kappan's handwriting sample was taken after the court approved STF’s request, said Singh.
Kappan and three others – Atiq-ur-Rahman, Masood Ahmed and Alam, who are members of the Popular Front of India – were arrested in October last year while they were on their way to Hathras. While the journalist was said to be on his way to the district to report on the gangrape and murder of a Dalit woman, the UP police claim that they were going to Hathras to create tensions as part of a conspiracy to ‘defame’ the state government. The three are presently lodged in Mathura jail.
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