Trinamool's Saket Gokhale, jailed in Gujarat, arrested again - this time by ED

Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale, who is in a Gujarat jail since December 30 over an alleged misuse of crowdfunded money, was arrested again by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday for misappropriating funds.

He was taken into custody under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Ahmedabad, according to PTI, where he is lodged in judicial custody in the Gujarat Police case.

Gokhale was arrested by the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch from Delhi last year and is facing charges under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 467 (forgery) of the IPC.

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A complaint was filed subsequently by an Ahmedabad resident who claimed to have donated ₹500 to Gokhale through online mode. According to police, Gokhale allegedly collected over ₹70 lakh from more than 1,700 persons through ‘ourdemocracy’ platform and used that money for personal use.

This comes after two previous arrests – on December 6 and December 8 – and subsequent bails that the TMC leader went through with the Gujarat Police for allegedly spreading ‘fake news’ on Twitter. On December 1, Gokhale shared a news clipping about information purportedly obtained through RTI which claimed PM Modi's visit to Morbi cost ₹30 crore.

(With agency inputs)