TMC's Saket Gokhale Detained Over Tweet 'Endorsing Fake News' About PM's Trip to Morbi After Bridge Collapse

Gujarat Police on Tuesday detained Trinamool Congress’s national spokesperson Saket Gokhale over a tweet endorsing an alleged fake news about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Morbi after the bridge collapse incident there, an official said.

Gokhale was apprehended from Jaipur in Rajasthan during the early hours by officials of the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Cell, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Cyber Crime, Jitendra Yadav said.

“Based on a complaint we received from a citizen, an FIR has been lodged against Gokhale for spreading fake news about the PM’s visit to Morbi. We detained him from Jaipur today morning and he is being brought here for further legal process,” news agency PTI quoted Yadav as saying. He added that a formal arrest will be made after a Covid-19 test.

The FIR was registered under Indian Penal Code Sections 465, 469, 471 (all pertaining to forgery) and 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory), police said.

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien on Tuesday morning tweeted, claiming that party national spokesperson Saket Gokhale has been arrested by the Gujarat Police in what he called was a “cooked up case” filed with the Ahmedabad cyber cell about Saket’s tweet on the Morbi bridge collapse.

Gokhale recently tweeted that an RTI revealed that Modi’s visit to Morbi for a few hours cost Rs 30 crore.

Gokhale’s tweet said: “RTI reveals that Modi’s visit to Morbi for a few hours cost ₹30 cr. Of this, ₹ 5.5cr was purely for “welcome, event management, & photography”. 135 victims who died got ₹4 lac ex-gratia each i.e. ₹5 cr. Just Modi’s event management & PR costs more than life of 135 people.”

https://twitter.com/saketgokhale/status/1598149744307511296?s=48&t=CljyAmRwO8Ih1xdZoegz4g

Taking to Twitter on Tuesday, senior TMC leader Derek O’Brien alleged, ‘TMC national spokesperson @SaketGokhale arrested by Gujarat Police. Saket took a 9pm flight from New Delhi to Jaipur on Mon. When he landed, Gujarat Police was at the airport in Rajasthan waiting for him and picked him up.”

In another tweet, giving the details of Saket Gokhale’s arrest, O’Brien said the party spokesperson called his mother at 2 am and told her the cops were taking him to Ahmedabad and that he would reach there by noon today.

“At 2 in the morning on Tuesday, 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,” Derek O’Brien said.

“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,” Derek O’Brien added.