On December 6, a magistrate court in Ahmedabad had remanded Gokhale to police custody till December 8. Gokhale was arrested by the Gujarat Police from Jaipur on December 5.
The arrest was based on a complaint against his tweet claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Morbi after the bridge collapse cost ₹30 crore.
“RTI reveals that Modi’s visit to Morbi for a few hours cost ₹30 crores. Of this, ₹5.5. crore was purely for ‘welcome, event management, & photography’. 135 victims who died got ₹4 lakh ex-gratia each i.e. ₹5 crore. Just Modi’s event management & PR costs more than life of 135 people,” his tweet stated.
Disturbed by Gokhale’s tweet, a senior BJP leader named Bhalabhai Kothari lodged a complaint before the Ahmedabad cyber crime cell on December 1, a report stated.
Based on the same, an FIR was lodged, booking Gokhale under Sections 469 (forgery to harm reputation), 471 (using as genuine a forged document/electronic record), 501 (printing defamatory matter), and 505(b)(statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code.
Source: Barandbench
