Gujarat Police arrested TMC Spokesperson Saket Gokhale from airport in Rajasthan
Police said a complaint in this regard was filed by a BJP functionary who “was disturbed by Gokhale’s tweet” in which he had posted “screenshots” of purported news reports claiming Rs 30 crore was spent for PM Modi’s visit to Morbi in Gujarat. Gujarat Police detained Trinamool Congress (TMC) spokesperson Saket Gokhale in Jaipur early on Tuesday in the wake of a complaint by a senior BJP functionary over his tweet in connection with the Morbi bridge collapse, officials said. Gujarat Police arrested TMC Spokesperson Saket Gokhale from airport in Rajasthan.
Police said the complaint was filed before the Ahmedabad cyber crime cell by senior BJP functionary Bhalabhai Kothari who “was disturbed by Gokhale’s tweet” dated December 1 in which he had posted “screenshots” of purported news reports claiming Rs 30 crore was spent for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Morbi in Gujarat.
The FIR in this regard was registered later that day for offences pertaining to forgery, tweeting defamatory content and fear mongering, a police officer added. Gokhale’s tweet, while citing the allegedly fake news clippings, stated, “RTI reveals that Modi’s visit to Morbi for a few hours cost Rs 30 cr. Of this Rs 5.5. Cr was purely for “welcome, event management, & photography”. 135 victims who died got Rs 4 lac ex-gratia each i.e. Rs 5 cr. Just Modi’s event management & PR costs more than life of 135 people.”
The police officer said, “Gokhale posted on social media and tweeted claiming a news report by Gujarat Samachar… Prima facie the news report clippings cited are fake… Gujarat Samachar has placed on record that they did not publish any such news report. Considering the massive tragedy where so many have died and the sensitivity of the issue, it had potential law and order ramifications.”
“Gokhale has been detained for questioning and once he reaches Ahmedabad we will see (regarding necessary proceedings)… He is claiming impersonation and we will add sections under the IT Act if the need arises,” the officer added.
According to TMC MP Derek O’Brien’s tweet on Tuesday morning, Gokhale took a 9 pm flight from New Delhi to Jaipur on Monday and when he landed, “Gujarat police was at the airport in Rajasthan, waiting for him and picked him up.”
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“At 2 in the morning on Tue, he called his Ma and told her that they are taking him to Ahmedabad and he would reach Ahmedabad by noon today. The police let him make that one two-minute phone call and then confiscated his phone and all his belongings. The cooked up case is filed with the Ahmedabad cyber cell about Saket’s tweet on the Morbi bridge collapse. All this cannot silence @AITCofficial and the Opposition. BJP taking political vendetta to another level.”
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