Who is Saket Gokhale? Has he been arrested for a tweet on Morbi bridge tragedy?

Saket Gokhale is in trouble.

The Trinamool Congress spokesperson been arrested by the Gujarat Police over a tweet over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Morbi in the wake of the bridge collapse.

Let’s take a closer look at who Gokhale is and why he is in legal trouble:

Who is he?

Gokhale, a TMC spokesperson, joined the party in August 2021.

Gokhale has been described as a transparency investigator and a social activist.

Gokhale was previously a correspondent for Financial Times.

He also served as creative director and head of digital content at Hindustan Times.

An RTI activist, he has filed dozens of queries including on the Pegasus spyware, bank loans, and the ‘tukde-tukde gang'.

A piece in Vice, describing Gokhale as polarising, notes that he counts actor Swara Bhaskar, comedian Kunal Kamra, and Magsaysay award-winning journalist Ravish Kumar as among his followers.

The piece added that Gokhale is frequently at odds with filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and even members of his own party.

Has he been arrested?

Gokhale has been arrested for allegedly tweeting fake news.

The news clipping, purportedly published in a leading Gujarati newspaper, claimed that an RTI revealed that Gujarat government had spent Rs 30 crore on the prime minister’s visit to Morbi in the aftermath of the bridge collapse.

Gokhale in his tweet claimed the amount spent on “welcome, event management and photography” was more than what the victims of the tragedy received as compensation.

As per Indian Express, the complaint was initially filed with the Ahmedabad cybercrime cell by senior BJP functionary Bhalabhai Kothari who “was disturbed by Gokhale’s tweet.”

Mukund Pandya, chief reporter of the Gujarat Samachar’s Ahmedabad bureau, told BOOM the news was fake.

“We looked into the clipping and no such article has been published by any edition of Gujarat Samachar. Someone has mischievously made the clipping and then claimed that it is a story published in our newspaper. That is not true. If you look at the screenshot, it does not say Gujarat Samachar anywhere. Also, while the style and layout may be of our paper, the font is different. We have officially replied in writing to the cybercrime cell of Ahmedabad police with these details."

Gokhale’s tweet was also countered by the official Press Information Bureau of India’s ‘fact check’ account, which stated that the claim was ‘fake’ and that no such RTI responses had been given.

Quoting an RTI, It is being claimed in a tweet that PM’s visit to Morbi cost ₹30 cr.#PIBFactCheck

▪️ This claim is #Fake.

▪️ No such RTI response has been given. pic.twitter.com/CEVgvWgGTv

— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) December 1, 2022

“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…He is claiming impersonation and we will add sections under the IT Act if the need arises,” an officer told Indian Express.

TMC leader Gokhale was detained 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 earlier Tuesday.

“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,” Yadav said, adding a formal arrest will be made after a COVID-19 test.

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

TMC alleges vendetta

TMC national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien called it a “political vendetta”.

O’Brien in a tweet said Gokhale took a flight at 9 pm from New Delhi to Jaipur yesterday. When he landed, the Gujarat Police was at the airport in Rajasthan waiting for him and picked him up.

At 2 am, Gokhale called his mother and told her that the police were taking him to Ahmedabad and he would reach that city by noon, O’Brien claimed.

“The police let him make that two-minute phone call and then confiscated his phone and all his belongings,” the TMC leader said on Twitter.

“The cooked up case is filed with the Ahmedabad cyber cell about Saket’s tweet on the Morbi bridge collapse. All this cannot silence the All India Trinamool Congress and the Opposition. BJP taking political vendetta to another level,” O’Brien alleged.

The TMC’s Sushmita Dev tweeted:

Our @AITCofficial national spokesperson @SaketGokhale has consistently highlighted the truth & exposed the BJP. To arrest him so suddenly in another state at 2am speaks volumes about a regime that wants to rule with fear.

Rest assured we will fight back & won’t back down. https://t.co/L0x4G0ya4v

— Sushmita Dev সুস্মিতা দেব (@SushmitaDevAITC) December 6, 2022

This isn’t the first time Gokhale has found himself in a row.

Gokhale was slammed by some on social media for a crowdfunding campaign through which he allegedly raised Rs 76 lakh.

Gokhale tweeted on 1 January, “The page clearly stated that it was for my sustenance to do my work full-time without a job (not for Rs. 10 RTI expenses)…I raised funds for my sustenance – like a salary to be able to do my work full-time (sic)”.

“The kind people who supported me are aware of it. You don’t promise ‘audited accounts’ for your monthly life expenses,” he added.

Speaking to The Print, Gokhale refused to comment on the allegations.

“Please ask me if you have any questions about the Trinamool’s election campaign in Goa. I have no time to indulge in responding to coordinated IT cell attacks and neither am I a story,” he said.

With inputs from agencies

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