TMC's Gokhale in police custody; 'vendetta politics', says Mamata
KOLKATA: Following the detention of Trinamool Congress (TMC) national spokesperson Saket Gokhale by Gujarat Police over his tweet on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday dubbed the entire episode as an instance of 'vendetta politics'.
A Magistrate Court in Gujarat's Ahmedabad on Tuesday remanded the TMC spokesperson to police custody till December 8.
While speaking to reporters at Jaipur airport, Banerjee said: "It is very bad and sad. Saket is a very bright man and he is quite popular on social media also. He has made no mistake. He had suffered from cardiac arrest. He was not well. He somehow managed to survive. He was coming to Jaipur yesterday (Monday). But the Gujarat Police took him to Ahmedabad just because he had tweeted against the Prime Minister."
Gokhale was detained by the Gujarat Police from Jaipur on Monday night over a tweet about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Morbi where a bridge had collapsed killing at least 136 people.
Earlier, Saket Gokhale reportedly tweeted a news clipping from a Gujarati newspaper. The news report had claimed that it had been revealed in response to an RTI query that the government had spent Rs 30 crore on Modi's visit to Morbi after the collapse of the bridge. The news was marked as 'fake' by the government's fact-check unit. Following this, an 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).
Meanwhile, TMC tweeted a video of Mamata's reaction to the incident. In the same thread, the party wrote: "@BJP4India has set the country on a vicious course of vendetta politics. Hon'ble CM @MamataOfficial has exposed how the arrest of Nat'l Spokesperson @SaketGokhale is part of BJP's vigorous crusade against all dissenting individuals. Are these the last vestiges of vox populi?"
Earlier in the day, TMC MP Derek O'Brien posted a series of tweets citing details of the incident. In the tweets, he had claimed that Saket had taken a Monday night flight from New Delhi to Jaipur. According to O'Brien's tweets, Saket was 'picked up' from there by Gujarat Police.
"Saket took a 9pm flight from New Delhi to Jaipur on Mon. When he landed, Gujarat Police were at the airport in Rajasthan waiting for him and picked him up," he tweeted. In the next tweet, he cited: "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."
TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee tweeted: "Fearless, Gokhale stood against the ruling dispensation that trades lives for its own profit. In reaction, panic-stricken @BJP4India got our national spokesperson @SaketGokhale arrested by Gujarat police. It is their (BJP's) folly to think these acts of intimidation will make us (TMC) to bow down!"
Seeking Gokhale's custody the prosecution contended that it was necessary to investigate why he posted "a fake and false tweet".
They also stated that there were two photographs embedded in his tweet which referred to a newspaper clip that was uploaded by another Twitter handle identified as "Dax Patel".
The Gujarat police wanted to check whether Gokhale was in touch with 'Dax Patel'.
The police also wanted to verify the newspaper cutting. They further contended that it would be investigated how many others were involved in "committing this crime". Citing these reasons, the police prayed for his 3-day custody.
Gokhale, attaching a newspaper cutting, had tweeted: "RTI reveals that Modi's visit to Morbi for a few hours cost Rs 30 cr. Of this, Rs 5.5cr 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."
