Rahul's aide denies paying to TMC's Saket for 'investigative research on BJP'

Congress leader Alankar Sawai, reported to be close to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, is said to have denied giving Rs 23.24 lakh to jailed Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) told a special court in Ahmedabad on Wednesday while opposing his regular bail application.

Sawai was questioned by the ED officials in Delhi recently after Gokhale told them that he had received the amount from the Congress leader for "investigative research on BJP and publishing that on social media." Gokhale is said to have told ED officials that "this was an oral agreement". The amount was not disclosed in Gokhale's Income Tax Returns.

ED has told the court in the affidavit that to check the veracity of Gokhale's claim Sawai was examined and was "confronted with Sawai". "Alankar Sawai categorically denied the claim of Saket Gokhale," the affidavit stated.

Gokhale is lodged at Sabarmati Central Jail and is being investigated for money laundering. He is alleged to have collected over Rs1 crore through crowdfunding and cash deposits and used them for personal purposes. This is the third case that the former journalist turned politician is facing in Gujarat.

ED has said bank account analysis showed that the cash (Rs 23.24 lakh) was deposited in 41 instances ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 lakh between October 2021 and October 2022. The cash was deposited from Delhi (18 instances), Kolkata (19 instances) and Bombay (four instances).

"The cash deposit was mainly made from Kiosk of ICICI (Cash Deposit Machine). On further analysis it has been found that when a cash deposit was made at Kiosk Stephan House, Kolkata, there were few instances in which the mobile number of Saket Gokhale was mentioned as cash depositor however the cell tower location of Saket Gokhale obtained from Telecom Service provider shows that his location was in Delhi," the affidavit stated.

Gokhale is alleged to have collected over Rs 1 crore through crowdfunding and cash deposits and used them for personal purposes, "breaching the trust of the general public who donated or contributed to him." He ran campaigns such as “fight with RTI”, “Saket versus Modi”, “justice for Suhas” and “Support Saket in his transparency battle”.

ED case is based on an FIR registered by the cyber cell of Ahmedabad police alleging that as an "RTI Activist and a social worker" he raised the money for for filing RTIs for public purposes ad other social activities in the interest of the public. He has collected about Rs 1.7 crore through crowdfunding platforms such as Cashfree Gateway, Razor Pay Gateway and cash deposits from 2019 to 2022.

ED investigation is said to have found that he used the money for paying personal credit card and loan repayment to the tune of Rs62 lakh for personal use such as booking flights, hotels, dining and wine, among others. He purchased stocks and mutual funds worth Rs 92.32 lakh and incurred a loss of about Rs 30 lakh through intraday trading on the stock market of crowdfunded money.

He is alleged to have transferred to Paytm Rs 4.22 lakh for buying wine/liquor. He paid Rs1.26 lakh to Moksh Foundation, which is an alcohol deaddiction centre spent Rs 76,766 on Swiggy.

"Thus, Saket Gokhale after raising the funds, misutilised and diverted the funds raised through crowdfunding for his personal expenses rather than the purpose intended for crowdfunding for which, an investigation into the offence of money laundering is undergoing with the replying respondent. Now, after defrauding the donors, the claim of the applicant that he is being victimised is totally ill-placed and liable to be disregarded," the affidavit has said.

ED has said that "the applicant’s profile on our democracy clearly states that the crowdfunding was for the sustenance of work and not for his own sustenance. Therefore, his activities are tantamount to diversion of funds for personal gain making it punishable u/s 4 of PMLA, 2002." The special PMLA court will hear his bail plea on Thursday.