Arnab Goswami was arrested at his home in Mumbai.
Bombay:
Republic TV promoter Arnab Goswami was sent by a Maharashtra court yesterday to 14 days in police custody. Mr. Goswami was arrested in the early hours of his Mumbai home on Wednesday in connection with the suicide of an architect, Anvay Naik, and his mother in 2018. The case was closed under the previous government but was recently reopened after calls from the architect. family.
An Alibaug court dismissed police’s request for 14-day police custody, but also dismissed Mr Goswami’s charge that he was physically assaulted during his arrest, an allegation he made. done several times during the day.
A 13-minute video shot during the arrest shows police pleading with the editor to cooperate as he says he was assaulted. Finally, the police took him away.
The Bombay High Court will hear Mr. Goswami’s petition today to strike out the case against him. He is also expected to file a bail application, a decision police and Mr. Naik’s family will oppose. Mr. Goswami was taken to jail last night after an unusually long, nearly six-hour hearing that lasted almost until midnight.
Mr. Naik’s family will also file a petition in the Bombay High Court for his intervention.
Mr. Goswami’s lawyers described the denial of police custody as a victory. In a statement, Republic TV said: “The arrest of Arnab Goswami is part of a larger vindictive exercise against a freelance journalist and news network. It is about bringing to light real facts about unsubstantiated allegations in a closed case on the basis of which Arnab Goswami was assaulted and arrested. “
Earlier today, almost the entire union cabinet came out in favor of Mr. Goswami, alleging his arrest was a reminder of the urgency and an attack on press freedom. . The Editors Guild of India and the News Broadcasters Association spoke out against the arrest, but the Mumbai-based Television Journalists Association (TVJA) said the case was a personal matter and not had nothing to do with journalism.
While calling on Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray not to use state power against journalists for vendetta, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) claimed it did not endorse the journalism brand of Mr. Goswami.
Family members of Anvay Naik claimed that they had been threatened and warned against the police and that the arrest was ultimately a step towards justice for them. They also claimed that the publisher had used his influence to block a proper investigation into the suicide, even though his name was the first of three names mentioned in the suicide note left by the architect.
“We have been calling for his arrest for a long time; I am happy that the Maharashtra police have finally taken this first step. We want a fair investigation,” Akshata Naik, wife of Anvay Naik, said on Wednesday.
“Why was Arnab privileged as a defendant? Is he a god? His statement was recorded. We met the former Mumbai police commissioner, Sanjay Barve at that time. met Anil Paraskar, officer in Raigad, several times and also wrote to PMO India. But no one helped us, ”said Anvay Naik’s daughter, Adnya Naik.
Referring to Mr. Goswami’s calls for arrests for the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, Akshata Naik said: “ Arnab Goswami kept saying that arrests should be made in the Sushant Singh Rajput suicide case where there was no suicide note. My husband left a suicide note naming Arnab and two others, but no arrests were made. How is that fair? “
