Saket Gokhale is an Indian Member of Parliament (MP), RTI activist and politician, and the National Spokesperson of

Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (; AITC), simply known as Trinamool Congress, is an Indian political party that is mainly influential in the Federated state, state of West Bengal. It was founded by Mamata Banerjee on 1 January 1998 as a Lis ...

. He joined TMC in 2021. He had also worked as a foreign correspondent at the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' and at ''

National Public Radio (NPR) National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

''. Now he is the member of India's Upper House of Parliament i.e.

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

representing the State of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

Legal affairs

In December 2022, he was arrested over a tweet for posting alleged misinformation about

2022 Morbi bridge collapse On 30 October 2022, a pedestrian suspension bridge over the Machchhu River in the city of Morbi in Gujarat, India, collapsed, causing the deaths of at least 141 people and injuries to more than 180 others. The 19th-century bridge had reopened ...

. After getting bail from a metropolitan court in

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

, he was re-arrested over the same tweet in a matter of few hours. On 10 December, he was freed on bail. In January 2023, Gokhale was arrested again by the

Enforcement Directorate The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is a law enforcement and economic intelligence agency of the Government of India. Established on 1 May 1956, it is responsible for enforcing economic laws and combating financial crimes. The ED operates under th ...

(ED) over charges of money laundering, as he had allegedly diverted

crowdfunded Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance, to fund projects "without standard financial ...

money for personal expenses and investments. The Supreme Court granted him bail in April 2023. On 30 June 2024, The

Delhi High Court The High Court of Delhi ( Hindustani: दिल्ली उच्च न्यायालय; ''dillī uchcha nyāyālaya'') is the high court in Delhi, India. It was established on 31 October 1966, through the ''Delhi High Court Act, 1966. ...

directed Saket Gokhale to apologize and pay Rs 50 lakh damages to former diplomat Lakshmi Puri, the wife of Union minister

Hardeep Singh Puri Hardeep Singh Puri (born 15 February 1952) is an Indian politician and retired diplomat of Indian Foreign Service who is serving as 33rd Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas since 2021. He is a 1974 batch Indian Foreign Service officer who s ...

, for his defamatory tweets against her over the purchase over the purchase of a property in Switzerland. Hearing the defamation lawsuit filed by the former assistant secretary general of the United Nations, Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani also restrained the TMC Member of Parliament from publishing any more content on any social media or electronic platform concerning his imputation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gokhale, Saket Living people Trinamool Congress politicians from Maharashtra Year of birth missing (living people) Right to Information activists Rajya Sabha members from West Bengal