TMC spokesman in police custody for Morbi tweet
December 06, 2022 22:42
Trinamool Congress national spokesperson Saket Gokhale was arrested on Tuesday for a tweet endorsing an alleged fake news report about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Gujarat's Morbi town after the collapse of a suspension bridge in October, a police official said.
Gokhale was detained from Jaipur in Rajasthan in the early hours by officials of the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Cell and brought in the afternoon to Ahmedabad where he was formally placed under arrest, said assistant commissioner of police, Cyber Crime, Jitendra Yadav.
Later, the TMC member was produced before the court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate MV Chauhan, who sent him to police custody till December 8.
"Based on a complaint we received from a citizen, an FIR (first information report) was lodged against Gokhale for spreading fake news about the PM's visit to Morbi after the bridge collapse tragedy. We detained him from Jaipur today morning and brought him here," Yadav said.
The FIR was registered in Ahmedabad under Indian Penal Code sections 465, 469, 471 (all related to forgery) and 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory), the police said.
The 35-year-old spokesperson of the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC underwent a heart surgery recently and was on a private visit to Jaipur, sources said. Gokhale recently tweeted a purported news clipping which apparently appeared to have been published in a leading Gujarati newspaper.
The purported news clipping claimed a query under the Right to Information revealed the Gujarat government had spent Rs 30 crore on PM Modi's visit to Morbi town after the collapse of a suspension bridge on October 30. -- ANI
TOP STORIES
© 2024 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances