The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on March 13 the bail plea of Trinamool Congress spokesman Saket Gokhale in a case of alleged misuse of money collected through the crowdfunding.
Court to take up case after reopening
"We will have it immediately after vacation. This file came at late night, we have not seen the file. We will take it up after reopening," the bench of Justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath said.
Appearing for Gokhale, senior advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi submitted that the petitioner has always maintained that he has collected money from crowdfunding. He added that this is not a case to deny bail, he said.
Gokhale was arrested by Gujarat Police
Earlier on January 23, the Gujarat High Court had refused bail to Gokhale and asked him to approach the court only after a charge sheet is filed.
Earlier on Jan 25, the Enforcement Directorate placed Saket Gokhale under arrest in a money laundering case connected to the alleged irregularities in the crowdfunding matter, in which he was arrested by the Gujarat Police. On December 30, Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch detained Saket Gokhale from Delhi in connection with the alleged abuse of money raised through crowdfunding.
Saket Gokhale has been remanded to ED custody till January 31 after his arrest in the money laundering case.
Saket Gokhale claimed that his detention by the Ahmedabad Police was wrongful and alleged that he was framed in the case because "he was battling against the establishment".
Gokhale was detained thrice by Gujarat police in December
Gujarat Police detained the TMC leader thrice in December 2022. On December 6, he was detained by the Cyber Crime Branch for allegedly circulating false information about the expense of PM Modi's visit to Morbi town following a bridge collapse.
On December 1, Gokhale tweeted a news clipping on information received allegedly through RTI that stated Modi's visit to Morbi cost 30 crore. Soon after being granted bail by an Ahmedabad court, the TMC leader was detained again on December 8 by Morbi police for the identical offence.
