TMC's Saket Gokhale arrested by Gujarat Police; sent to 2-day police custody

Trinamool Congress TMC national spokesperson Saket Gokhale was arrested on Tuesday for a tweet endorsing an alleged fake news report about Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Gujarats Morbi town after the collapse of a suspension bridge in October a police official saidGokhale was detained at 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 ACP Cyber Crime Jitendra YadavLater the TMC member was produced before the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate MV Chauhan who sent him to police custody till December 8Based on a complaint we received from a citizen an FIR first information report was lodged against Gokhale for spreading fake news about the PMs visit to Morbi after the bridge collapse tragedy We detained him from Jaipur today morning and brought him here Yadav saidThe FIR was registered in Ahmedabad under Indian Penal Code IPC sections 465 469 471 all related to forgery and 501 printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory police saidThe 35yearold spokesperson of the Mamata Banerjeeled TMC underwent a heart surgery recently and was on a private visit to Jaipur sources saidGokhale recently tweeted a purported news clipping which apparently appeared to have been published in a leading Gujarati newspaperThe purported news clipping claimed a query under the Right to Information RTI revealed the Gujarat government had spent Rs 30 crore on PM Modis visit to Morbi town after the collapse of a suspension bridge on October 30The collapse of the Britishera bridge built on the Machchu river in Morbi had killed 135 peopleThe Prime Minister who was on a Gujarat tour at that time visited the site of the tragedy on November 1Citing the purported news clipping which he attached to his tweet Gokhale said RTI reveals that Modis visit to Morbi for a few hours cost Rs 30 croreJust Modis event management and PR costs more than the lives of 135 innocent peopleACP Yadav said When we contacted Gujarat Samachar the management told us this news was never published and it was totally fake and created by someone to look authentic Thus we have detained and later arrested Gokhale for spreading fake newsAlso Read Maha political crisis Unconstitutional govt in state Uddhav group tells SCAs per the FIR quoted by the police in its remand application the TMC leader had deliberately tweeted fake news to get political mileageIt further alleged Gokhales act had sparked a feeling of fear and hatred among citizens and it could dilute the peaceful atmosphere of GujaratMeanwhile West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee backed Gokhale and claimed the police action against him showed vindictive attitude of the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP government in GujaratIts a very bad and sad incident Saket Gokhale is a bright man He is very popular on social media He has made no mistake Banerjee told reporters at the Jaipur airportI condemn this vindictive attitude He Saket has been arrested because he tweeted against the Prime Minister People also tweet against me We are really feeling sorry about the situation said the TMC supremoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever