Gokhale was ‘picked up’ at Jaipur airport last night, TMC cries political vendetta.
Jaipur: Gujarat police detained Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale from Jaipur late night on Friday. According to the report, the TMC leader was detained by the police over a tweet related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Gokhale had tweeted about Modi’s visit to Morbi, where a bridge collapse killed over 130 people in October. The TMC tweeted about the detention following which Gujarat police official made an official confirmation in this regard.
“The formal arrest will be made after a Covid test,” Jitendra Yadav, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Cell, told news agency PTI. He said the FIR was lodged on “a complaint by a citizen”. Charges include those for forgery and defamation. As per the report, Gokhale is likely to be brought to Ahmedabad today by the police for further investigation.
The Centre’s unit which ensures fact-check had called Gokhale’s tweet ‘fake’ and pinpointed it. The TMC leader, in his tweet, had shared what looked like newspaper clippings saying “RTI revealed the PM’s visit to Morbi cost Rs 30 crore”. The Press Information Bureau, on December 1, had said ‘This claim is fake.’
The TMC leader, however, called it a political vendetta. TMC leader and Diamod Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee, in a tweet, said, “Fearless, he stood against the ruling dispensation that trades lives for their own profit. In reaction, panic-stricken @BJP4India got our Nat’l Spokesperson @SaketGokhale arrested by Gujarat Police. It’s their folly to think these acts of intimidation will make us to bow down!”
TMC leader and MP, Derek O’Brien, tweeted, “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, he said, “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.”
He further tweeted, “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.”
