Republic TV Editor Arnab Goswami has now been arrested by the Raigad police on Wednesday because of his alleged involvement in a suicide case from 2018. Arnab Goswami was allegedly involved in the abetment of suicide of an architect and his mother over the alleged non-payment of dues by his channel Republic TV.
During the hearing at Alibaug court, Arnab Goswami said that he was badly assaulted by the police and sustained injuries on his back and hands. The magistrate has asked the police to take Arnab Goswami for medical consultation and bring him back following the examination. Media was flooded with images of Arnab Goswami being forcibly taken inside a police van.
Arnab Goswami had been arrested in the case of suicide abetment of an architect and his mother in 2018, who allegedly took their own lives over the non-payment of dues by the Republic TV. Republic TV released a statement in this regard and said, “Arnab Goswami’s arrest in the related suicide case has been made part of a larger vindictive exercise against an independent journalist and an independent news organisation.”
The release also noted that Anvay Naik and his mother’s suicide had been investigated and closed by a court of law after a closure report had been issued by the police, this closure report clearly said that no case was made out in April 2019. The statement also noted that implicating Arnab Goswami in a fake case was proof enough of the fact that the Maharashtra government was desperate about harassing Arnab Goswami. Commenting on the arrest, Home Minister Amit Shah spoke against the Maharashtra government’s move to arrest him and said that such a state of affairs was nothing but reminiscent of the emergency days. Union Minister for Information and Broadcast said that this act by the Maharashtra government was condemnable and that this wasn’t the way to treat the press.
In its statement the Editors Guild of India said that it was shocked to hear about the arrest of Arnab Goswami in the early hours of Wednesday morning and said that this act by the Maharashtra government was distressing and unacceptable. It said, “We condemn the sudden arrest and find it extremely distressing. The Guild calls upon the Chief Minister of Maharashtra to ensure that Goswami is treated fairly and state power is not used against critical reporting by the media.”
On the other hand, Anvay Naik’s family said that it was happy with Arnab Goswami’s arrest.
Republic TV has said that the allegations made against Arnab Goswami are false and an attempt to falsely implicate him is being made.
