Gujarat Police Detain Saket Gokhale Over Morbi Tragedy Tweet

O’Brien wrote that the TMC spokesperson was allowed to make a phone call to his mother at 2 am today and said that police were taking him to Ahmedabad.

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien has tweeted that party spokesperson Saket Gokhale has been ‘arrested’ by Gujarat police upon arriving at Rajasthan, allegedly over a tweet on the Morbi bridge collapse tragedy that killed over 140 people recently.

“Gokhale has been detained for questioning and once he reaches Ahmedabad we will see (regarding necessary proceedings),” police said, according to Indian Express.

O’Brien tweeted that Gokhale took a 9 pm flight on Monday, December 5, from New Delhi to Rajasthan’s capital Jaipur.

“When he landed, Gujarat Police was at the airport in Rajasthan waiting for him and picked him up,” the MP wrote.

O’Brien wrote that Gokhale made a phone call to his mother very early on Tuesday, December 6, and said that police were taking him to Ahmedabad. The “two-minute phone call” was all police allowed before allegedly confiscating his phone and other belongings, the MP wrote.

O’Brien called the case against Gokhale a “cooked up” one and said it had been filed with the Ahmedabad cyber cell “about Saket’s tweet on the Morbi bridge collapse.”

It was initially not clear which of Gokhale’s tweets the police allegedly took exception to. Police told Indian Express that the complaint was filed before the Ahmedabad cyber crime cell by senior BJP functionary Bhalabhai Kothari who “was disturbed by Gokhale’s tweet.”

One of his recent tweets (below) claimed that a Right to Information request has revealed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign visit to Morbi ahead of the assembly elections in the state cost Rs 30 crore. He claimed the amount was in excess of the ex gratia compensation paid to the families of the victims who died in the collapse of the bridge in November.

The official Press Information Bureau of India’s ‘fact check’ account had claimed that the claim was ‘fake’ and that no such RTI responses had been given.

Indian Express has quoted police as having said that this is a case of ‘impersonation’ as Gokhale has allegedly claimed that a Gujarat Samachar report carried the claim.

“Prima facie the news report clippings cited are fake… Gujarat Samachar has placed on record that they did not publish any such news report. Considering the massive tragedy where so many have died and the sensitivity of the issue, it had potential law and order ramifications…He is claiming impersonation and we will add sections under the IT Act if the need arises,” the officer added.

O’Brien also said this was a Bharatiya Janata Party tactic to “silence” TMC.

The party has been one of the opposition organisations to take on the ruling BJP in Gujarat over the bridge collapse.

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had said in the immediate aftermath that she was “deeply concerned” about the tragic collapse and tweeted condolences.

Bengal transport minister Snehasish Chakraborty had said, “The BJP never loses any opportunity to disturb the West Bengal government and find fault even in natural calamities. Will they explain now if any commission was shared between the ruling party leaders and the contractors while renovating the bridge that collapsed in Gujarat?”