TMC’s Saket Gokhale denied bail, court says he might ‘scuttle’ probe

An Ahmedabad magistrate court, too, had rejected his bail plea in the case on January 5.

On behalf of Gokhale, lawyer JA Kumawat submitted before the sessions court that he was a “victim of political vendetta due to his social media post on ‘Twitter’ relating to a political party” and that he is being “victimised and unjustly arrested in one after another FIR…wherein the allegations are cyclo-styled. Gokhale was arrested three times on various charges in December 2022.

Denying the allegations that Gokhale had collected money through online funding and that he utilised the said fund for his personal purpose and expenses, the TMC member submitted that the funding was utilised for social work through RTIs. He added that the allegations were baseless and he was being falsely accused since he was “fighting against the establishment”.

Gokhale also stated that he is being treated as a hardcore criminal since he was “posting on social media against the system” and is being targeted “intentionally using government machinery”.

The state opposed Gokhale’s bail application on the ground that Gokahle’s “intention of the offence” was significant to the case and that being a political worker, there are chances of him tampering with the evidences.