Ahmedabad court rejects bail plea of TMC’s Saket Gokhale

Gokhale, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 25, is being investigated by the agency for money laundering.
The ED is investigating the money trail of approximately Rs 1.07 crore in Gokhale’s accounts, of which around Rs 76 lakh he had received through crowdfunding campaigns on online platforms and another Rs 23 lakh he received as cash transfers.

The court of designated special PMLA judge DM Vyas observed in its order that “also considering the nature and gravity of the alleged offence and the fact that investigation is on crucial stage, the application deserves to be rejected.”

The court took into consideration the argument put forth by the ED, represented by additional solicitor general Devang Vyas and special prosecutor Sanjay Thakkar, that Gokhale appeared to have raised funds from general public through crowd funding through campaigns run on online platform Ourdemocracy.in and Razorpay and had allegedly utilised and diverted the funds thus raised through crowdfunding, for his personal expenses rather than the purpose intended for crowdfunding.

The court also took into account that the Gujarat High Court in January had also rejected Gokhale’s bail plea observing that the public money Gokhale received by crowd funding and used it for his personal expenses, “requires detailed investigation of proceeds of crime.”

The court also observed that Gokhale’s arguments on the grounds of sickness “does not inspire confidence”, especially in light of the “prima-facie facts on record.”

As per the ED’s investigation, it has been alleged that Gokhale spent money obtained by crowdfunding for personal expenses and sustenance, including Rs 5.25 lakh spent on food and drinks, Rs 7.38 lakh spent on travel expenses which include flights and hotels, nearly Rs 75,000 on petcare expenses, Rs 32,000 on Starbucks, Rs 2.26 lakh on Apple product and services, among other expenses.

According to the ED, among his personal expenses was also purchase of stocks and mutual funds worth Rs 92 lakh, where he “incurred loss of approximately Rs 30 lakh through intra-day trading on stock market of crowdfunded money”.
The affidavit also submits that Gokhale paid Rs 1.26 lakh to a de-addiction centre called Moksh Foundation