The Supreme Court today granted bail to TMC spokesperson and transparency activist Saket Gokhale in connection with the misappropriation of funds case.
The division bench of Justices BR Gavai & Vikram Nath stated that it was inclined to allow the TMC spokesperson’s application since the chargesheet had already been filed in the matter.
The counsel for Gokhale informed the bench that he had been in jail for about 108 days.
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju opposed the application.
However, the bench proceeded to allow the plea.
The Supreme Court heard a plea by the activist against a Gujarat High Court order refusing him bail in the matter involving the use of funds obtained through crowdfunding.
Therefore, the High Court noted that there was a prima facie case against Gokhale. It reasoned that as per the statements of witnesses, he received money not only from the wife of the complainant but also from 1,767 persons. These amounts, the High Court observed that were collected using social media and most transactions were online.
Last month, the apex court sought the response of the Gujarat government in the matter.
A complaint was lodged against the Gokhale by a deputy secretary in the State government on December 28, 2022, alleging that his wife paid some amount as a contribution to the crowdfunding initiated by him.
Therefore, these funds were to be used for the welfare of poor people. However, it was alleged that Gokhale misappropriated the funds for his personal expenses.
In his defense, Gokhale argued that he was being targeted and was a victim of a political vendetta. He claimed before the Gujarat High Court that he has been framed in this case, as the government wants him to be in jail.
Notably, Gokhale was first arrested on December 6 last year for a news clipping of a Right to Information (RTI) response he shared on Twitter stating that an amount of ₹30 crore was spent ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Morbi, where the century-old suspension bridge collapsed in the month of October.
However, he was granted bail on December 8 in this case. As soon as he was released, he was immediately arrested by the Cyber Cell of the Ahmedabad Police in the misappropriation of funds case.
