Two days after the Gujarat High Court rejected the bail application of Saket Gokhale, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has now arrested the Trinamool Congress (TMC) spokesperson for misappropriation of funds sourced from the public.
Saket Gokhale was taken into custody by the ED under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Ahemdabad, where he is already in jail after he was arrested by Gujarat Police. ED will produce him before a local court seeking his remand for questioning.
It must be mentioned that Saket Gokhale has been in judicial custody since his arrest by the Gujarat police on December 29 last year. Gokhale is accused of misappropriating ₹1.07 crore collected from the public through crowd-funding.
ED arrests Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale in money laundering case: Officials
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 25, 2023
While rejecting his bail application on Monday (January 23), the Gujarat High Court said that the TMC spokesperson can apply for bail once the chargesheet is filed against him. Saket Gokhale is charged under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), and 467 (forgery) of the Indian Penal Code.
TMC leader Saket Gokhale was arrested by the Gujarat Police for siphoning off money in the name of activism. The police had found accounts linked to Gokhale where he was receiving money, which he claimed was being used for legal fees for activism-related cases but was instead being used for personal expenses. Before that, he was arrested by Gujarat police for spreading fake news about PM Modi.
Earlier this month, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee came out in defence of Gokhale and accused the Gujarat police of ‘procedural lapses’ in the investigation process.
