Gujarat: TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale granted bail, arrested again

Ahmedabad: Hours after he secured bail from a metropolitan court, Gujarat police re-arrested Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale in a case related to his tweet about the Morbi bridge collapse tragedy.

Gokhale on December 1 tweeted a news clipping about information purportedly obtained through the Right to Information claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Morbi after the bridge collapse cost Rs 30 crore.

The TMC spokesperson was granted bail after he was produced before the court in Ahmedabad on Thursday following the completion of his police custody but was soon arrested in another case registered by Morbi police.

The party said it has sent a three-member delegation to Morbi, after the development. "BJP4Gujarat's nefarious agenda is out again," it tweeted. "Our National spokesperson @SaketGokhale was arrested again moments after his release by the Gujarat Police, with no good reason." Claiming that people's democratic rights are under threat, the TMC sought his "unconditional release." "RTI reveals that Modi’s visit to Morbi for a few hours cost Rs 30 cr. Of this, Rs 5.5 cr was purely for “welcome, event management, & photography”, Gokhale had tweeted.

On Tuesday, the Press Information Bureau tweeted a 'fact check' saying the information was fake. The news clipping appeared to be from a local Gujarati newspaper.

An FIR was registered against Gokhale on the charges of forgery and printing defamatory content and he was arrested on December 6.

The prime minister had visited Gujarat on November 1, a day after a colonial-era suspension bridge on the Machchu river in Morbi town collapsed leaving 135 people dead.