NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday decided to take up on March 13 a bail plea by Trinamool Congress spokesperson and activist Saket Gokhale in a case related to alleged misuse of money collected through crowdfunding.
A bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice 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.
Representing Gokhale, senior advocate A M Singhvi 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 petitioner challenged the validity of the Gujarat High Court's order of January 23 refusing him bail.
Gokhale was arrested from Delhi after an FIR was lodged on December 28, 2022 by Ahmedabad police for offence u/s 120B, 420, 467,471 of IPC.
The FIR alleged that Gokhale, claiming himself an RTI Activist and a social worker on his various social media platforms, raised over Rs one Crore for filing RTIs for public purposes and other social activities in the interest of the public but utilised the money for other purposes, including personal luxuries and lavish living.
Gokhale was also arrested on January 25, 2023 by the Enforcement Directorate under the provision of Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
