Crowdfunding 'Misuse' Case: TMC Spokesperson Saket Gokhale Denied Bail By Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court today denied bail to the Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale who was arrested on December 30 in a case pertaining to the alleged misuse of money collected by him through crowdfunding.

The bench of Justice Samir J Dave dismissed the plea as he orally asked the Senior Counsel appearing for Gokhale to come after the filing of the chargesheet in the matter.

Earlier, he was denied bail by Additional Sessions Judge, Ahmedabad Alkeshkumar Bhojak on January 12 by observing that merely because he was an RTI activist and doing social work for the welfare of people, it cannot be said that he was not involved in the offence. It was also observed by the Court that if he is released on bail, he may 'scuttle' the investigation.

He had moved the sessions court after an Ahmedabad magistrate court had rejected his bail plea in the case on January 5.

The case against Gokhale is that he allegedly collected over Rs 72 lakh from more than 1,700 persons through a crowdfunding platform ‘our democracy’ and used that money for personal use and thus, misappropriated the funds.

The FIR in the case was registered upon a complaint filed by a woman who claimed to have donated Rs 500 to Gokhale through online mode (Razorpay). Thereafter, he was booked under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), and 467 (forgery).

Before the High Court, appearing for him, Senior Counsel Asim Pandya argued that Gokhale, who is suffering from various ailments, has been made a scapegoat in the matter.

He also argued that Gokhale is not booked under any offence which is punishable for more than 7 years and thus, it was necessary for the police to arrest him but they shuld have followed the dictum of Apex Court in the case of Arnesh Kumar. He also submitted that it was a fit case to grant him bail as he would not jump the bail as he is a national spokesperson of a political party.

"I understand that (the bail plea has been) prior to the filing of the chargesheet but on the face of the FIR, the judgment of the apex Court in the case of Arnesh Kumar and Satender Kumar Antil squarely apply, it becomes the duty of the Court to just apply the judgments," Senior Advocate Pandya submitted as he offered to submit 5-10 lakhs to show his bonafide.

In response to this, Justice Dave said that the police might add charges against him after the completion of the investigation in the case and a charge sheet is filed and consequently, the Court went ahead to reject the bail plea.

Case Citation: 2023 Livelaw (Guj) 18