Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami was on Wednesday arrested from his Lower Parel residence in Mumbai for allegedly abetting the suicide of a 53-year-old interior designer and his mother in 2018.
Late at night, Goswami was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days by the magistrate’s court in Alibaug, which rejected the plea for police custody.
“Alibaug police arrested Goswami under Sections 306 (abetment of suicide), and 34 (acts done by persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. This (arrest) pertains to the 2018 case of a man and his mother committing suicide,” a police official said.
Anvay Naik, who owned Concorde Designs Pvt Ltd, had left behind a suicide note saying he was ending his life because of non-payment of dues by Goswami, Feroz Shaikh and Niteish Sarda. According to the note, the three owed him Rs 83 lakh, Rs 4 crore and Rs 55 lakh respectively.
An FIR had been filed against all three but the case was closed in 2019 when the BJP government was in power.
On Wednesday, Naik’s daughter Adnya and widow Akshata told journalists that investigation into the case was “suppressed only because of Arnab Goswami”.
“We had made applications to various people, including the Prime Minister’s Office and superintendent of police, Raigad, to get justice for my father,” Adnya Naik said. “We don’t want to get into politics.… What we want is justice for my deceased father.”
A fresh probe had been ordered in the case in May by home minister Anil Deshmukh after a complaint by Adnya. “Nobody is above the law and Maharashtra police will take appropriate action as per law,” Deshmukh said on Wednesday.
The other two accused have also been arrested.
“I don’t know why no action was taken in 2018 when we filed the complaint... We have received numerous threat calls and we’re stalked,” Akshata said.
After his arrest, Goswami was produced in the Alibaug court where he complained of assault by the police. The magistrate directed the police to take Goswami to the civil hospital for a medical check-up.
The court, after perusing the medical report, noted in the order that the allegations of physical assault were incorrect and there were only minor scratches on the accused’s hand.
During the day, another FIR was filed against Goswami, his wife, son and two others by Mumbai police for allegedly assaulting a police official. “When we gave the intimation (of arrest) to Goswami’s wife, she tore up the paper,” the official said.
Barring Prime Minister Narendra Modi, almost all ministers, chief ministers and leaders of the BJP came out in Goswami’s defence, condemning his arrest and slamming the “Congress and its allies” for “shaming democracy”.
CPM leader Md Salim tweeted: “The way Amit Shah, S Jaishankar, Smriti Irani, Dharmendra Pradhan, Devendra Fadnavis, Prakash Javdekar, RS Prasad & JP Nadda are perturbed by arrest of #ArnabGoswami, I’m confused whether he was a journalist or a National Executive Member of the BJP.”
The Editors Guild of India expressed shock and condemned the “sudden arrest”.
However, the Television Journalists’ Association, Maharashtra, said Goswami had been arrested in a case related to a personal matter and not his profession. “Every citizen is equal in the eyes of law. Law must take its own course…,” it said in a statement.
