ED Frames Money Laundering Charges Against TMC MP Saket Gokhale

A special PMLA court in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, framed criminal charges on Tuesday against Saket Gokhale, a Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson, under the anti-money laundering law.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced that the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Ahmedabad (Rural), who also serves as the Designated Special Court (PMLA), framed criminal charges against Gokhale under the provisions of the PMLA, 2002. The charges relate to a Prosecution Complaint filed by the ED, with additional charges for a scheduled offense in a police case also being framed.

The special court rejected Gokhale’s application under Section 309 of the CrPC, which sought to suspend the PMLA, 2002 proceedings until the court reached a decision in the scheduled offense case against him, according to the ED.

State police arrested Gokhale in Delhi in December 2022 on allegations of misusing money collected through crowdfunding. The ED informed the court that Gokhale allegedly squandered significant amounts of crowdfunding money on speculative share trading, dining, and other personal expenses, which they described as extravagant. Gokhale, however, denied any misuse of the funds.

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Despite these charges, a special court granted Gokhale regular bail in May of last year in connection with a money laundering case involving alleged irregularities.

In a separate case, the Delhi High Court ordered Gokhale in July to pay ₹50 lakhs in damages to Lakshmi Puri, the wife of Union Minister Hardeep Puri, for defamation. This ruling followed a defamation suit filed by Lakshmi Puri, who claimed that Gokhale made false and damaging statements on social media about her financial dealings and public conduct.