The Supreme Court on Friday said it will consider on March 13 a plea filed by Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale seeking bail in a case related to alleged misuse of money collected through crowdfunding.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai Vikram Nath said it has not gone through the case file.
"We will have it immediately after vacation. This file came late night, we have not seen the file. We will take it up after reopening," the bench said.
Senior advocate AM Singhvi, appearing for Gokhale, submitted that the petitioner has always maintained that he has collected money from crowdfunding.
This is not a case to deny bail, he said.
The top court posted the matter for hearing on March 13.
The Gujarat High Court on January 23 had refused bail to Gokhale and asked him to approach the court only after a charge sheet is filed.
Gokhale was arrested by the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch from Delhi on December 30, 2022, in a case of alleged misuse of money he had collected through crowdfunding. He is facing charges under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 467 (forgery) of the IPC.
This was for the third time Gokhale was arrested this month by Gujarat Police.
Before this, he was first arrested by the Cyber Crime Branch on December 6 for allegedly spreading fake news regarding the cost incurred on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Morbi town following a bridge collapse tragedy.
On December 1, Gokhale had shared a news clipping about information purportedly obtained through the Right to Information claiming that Modi's visit to Morbi after the bridge collapse cost Rs 30 crore.
Soon after he received bail from a court, the TMC leader was again arrested on December 8 by the Morbi police for the same offence registered there. He was granted bail the next day.
(With PTI Inputs)
