Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale alleged on Wednesday that central agencies were being misused for political vendetta, a day after a special court in Ahmedabad framed criminal charges against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Gokhale said that he has pleaded not guilty and chosen to stand trial, adding that he has complete faith in the country’s judicial system.

The case pertains to allegations that Gokhale collected over Rs 72 lakh from more than 1,700 persons through a crowdfunding platform called “Our Democracy” and used the money for personal expenses. The Gujarat Police filed a first information report against him in December 2022, on the basis of which the Enforcement Directorate filed a case of alleged money laundering.

The court on Tuesday framed charges in the case filed by the police as well.

The central agency said on Tuesday that the judge in Ahmedabad also rejected Gokhale’s application demanding that the money-laundering proceedings be paused till the court decides on the scheduled offence against him. A scheduled offence is the original allegation based on which a money-laundering case is filed – which, in Gokhale’s case, refers to the first information report filed by the Gujarat Police.

The Trinamool Congress spokesperson was arrested in Delhi on December 29 by the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Branch.

The Gujarat Police had booked Gokhale based on a complaint by a woman who claimed to have donated Rs 500 to the politician through online application Razorpay. He was booked under sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to cheating (420), criminal breach of trust (406), and forgery (467) of the Indian Penal Code.

The Enforcement Directorate alleged that the Trinamool Congress MP used the money collected through crowdfunding for intraday trading in shares, paying his credit card dues and online shopping.

Gokhale on Wednesday questioned why the case was filed two years after the complaint was submitted, and noted that it pertained to an amount of Rs 500 donated in 2020.

“I firmly believe this case of ‘500 rupees’ will expose how central agencies are misused for political vendetta by the State and how Opposition leaders are jailed under the PMLA on frivolous and baseless allegations,” he said.

The Supreme Court granted Gokhale bail in the police case in April 2023, and a special court in Ahmedabad granted him bail in the money-laundering case in the following month. The Trinamool Congress member spent nearly six months in jail.