TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale's bail refused by Ahmedabad sessions court

A sessions court in Ahmedabad has refused to grant bail to Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale in a case related to alleged misuse of money collected through crowdfundingAdditional sessions judge A B Bhojak in the order passed on Thursday noted that there was a strong case against Gokhale and being a political worker he might hamper and tamper with evidences if released on bail at this stageEarlier a magistrates court had refused to grant him bail after the completion of his police remand on January 5 Gokhale was arrested by the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch from Delhi on December 30 in a case of alleged misuse of money he had collected through crowdfunding He is facing charges under Indian Penal Code sections 420 cheating 406 criminal breach of trust and 467 forgeryThe First Information Report was registered on a complaint filed by an Ahmedabad city resident who claimed to have donated Rs 500 to Gokhale through online mode As per the prosecution the case was not just about Rs 500 because Gokhale allegedly collected over Rs 70 lakh from more than 1700 persons through crowdfunding platform ourdemocracy and used that money for personal useAlso read TMC delegation meets chief election commissioner over harassment of Saket GokhaleDuring bail hearing Gokhales lawyer argued that his client was a victim of political vendetta and was being unjustly arrested in one FIR after another by Gujarat PoliceGokhale claimed that he was framed up in the case because he was fighting against the establishment Prosecution did not have any proof to establish that he had used the funds in question for his personal purposes and they were utilized for social work he saidOpposing the bail plea the prosecution said the offence was of serious nature as a huge amount of Rs 72 lakh was deposited in Gokhales account The sessions court observed that prima facie there was a case against the accused because it appears that the funding raised for welfare of the people was utilized by the applicant for his personal expenses The court also stated in its order that the accused may try to influence the investigation if released on bailThe TMC spokesperson was arrested by Gujarat Police thrice in December 2022 He was first arrested by the Cyber Crime Branch on December 6 for allegedly spreading fake news regarding the cost incurred on Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Morbi town following a bridge collapse thereOn December 1 Gokhale had shared a news clipping about information purportedly obtained through RTI which claimed that Modis visit to Morbi cost Rs 30 crore Soon after he received bail from an Ahmedabad court the TMC leader was again arrested on December 8 by the Morbi police for the same offence registered there He was granted bail the next dayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever