TMC MP Saket Gokhale Faces Criminal Charges for Misusing Crowd-Funding Money
The Directorate of Enforcement announced that a special PMLA court in Ahmedabad has framed criminal charges against Saket Gokhale, a Rajya Sabha MP from Trinamool Congress (TMC), under the anti-money laundering law.
The case is based on an FIR filed by the Gujarat Police, which alleges that Gokhale misused funds collected through crowd-funding. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) posted on its official handle on X, stating, “The Hon’ble Principal District and Sessions Judge, Ahmedabad (Rural) and Designated Special Court (PMLA), Ahmedabad, today August 13, 2024, framed criminal charges against Saket Gokhale, Rajya Sabha MP and National Spokesperson of All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) under the provisions of PMLA, 2002 in prosecution complaint filed by ED.”
In December 2022, the Gujarat Police arrested Gokhale from Delhi for allegedly misusing crowd-funded money. The ED informed the court that Gokhale had spent large sums of the collected money on “speculative share trading, wining and dining, and other personal expenses which appear to be extravagant in nature.”
Doubts Revealed
TMC -: TMC stands for Trinamool Congress, a political party in India.
MP -: MP stands for Member of Parliament, a person elected to represent people in the Parliament.
Crowd-Funding -: Crowd-funding is when many people give small amounts of money to support a project or person.
Directorate of Enforcement -: The Directorate of Enforcement is a government agency in India that fights financial crimes like money laundering.
PMLA -: PMLA stands for Prevention of Money Laundering Act, a law in India to stop money laundering.
Ahmedabad -: Ahmedabad is a big city in the state of Gujarat, India.
Rajya Sabha -: Rajya Sabha is the upper house of India’s Parliament, where members are elected to represent states.
FIR -: FIR stands for First Information Report, a document prepared by the police when they receive information about a crime.
Gujarat Police -: Gujarat Police is the law enforcement agency for the state of Gujarat in India.
ED -: ED stands for Enforcement Directorate, another name for the Directorate of Enforcement.
Charge Sheet -: A charge sheet is a document filed by the police or enforcement agencies listing the charges against a person accused of a crime.
