Arnab Goswami, the editor-in-chief of Republic TV, was arrested by the Mumbai Police for his alleged involvement in an abetment of suicide case from 2018. An interior designer named Anvay Naik and his mother were found dead in 2018, with a suicide note saying they took their lives due to non-payment of dues from Goswami's channel. The case was reopened after Naik's daughter filed a fresh complaint. Goswami's arrest has been condemned by several politicians as an attack on press freedom, while the Maharashtra government says the police are following the law.
Arnab Goswami, the editor-in-chief of Republic TV, was arrested by the Mumbai Police for his alleged involvement in an abetment of suicide case from 2018. An interior designer named Anvay Naik and his mother were found dead in 2018, with a suicide note saying they took their lives due to non-payment of dues from Goswami's channel. The case was reopened after Naik's daughter filed a fresh complaint. Goswami's arrest has been condemned by several politicians as an attack on press freedom, while the Maharashtra government says the police are following the law.
Arnab Goswami, the editor-in-chief of Republic TV, was arrested by the Mumbai Police for his alleged involvement in an abetment of suicide case from 2018. An interior designer named Anvay Naik and his mother were found dead in 2018, with a suicide note saying they took their lives due to non-payment of dues from Goswami's channel. The case was reopened after Naik's daughter filed a fresh complaint. Goswami's arrest has been condemned by several politicians as an attack on press freedom, while the Maharashtra government says the police are following the law.
On Wednesday, The Maharashtra Police arrested Republic TV Editor-in-Chief
Arnab Goswami house in connection with the death of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik in Alibaug in 2018. “Arnab Goswami is currently being taken to Raigad. He shall be interrogated by the investigating officer and the further course of action will be decided accordingly,” Sanjay Mohite, IG Konkan Range said. History of the case In May 2018, Anvay Naik, an interior designer, along with his mother Kumud Naik, was found dead at their bungalow in Alibaug. Anvay was found hanging on the first floor of the bungalow while Kumud’s body was found on the ground floor sofa, The police said Anvay had committed suicide but the post mortem report of Kumud indicated that she had been strangulated and did not commit suicide. The police found a suicide note written in English in which Anvay said he and his mother took the extreme step on account of payments of Rs 5.4 crore due to them not being cleared by the owners of three companies including television journalist Arnab Goswami of Republic TV. Following that, the police registered an accidental death report and a case of murder. Closure and reopen The case was reportedly closed by the Raigad police in 2019 saying that they did not find evidence against the accused named in the suicide note, including Goswami. However, in May, after a fresh complaint by Adnya Naik, his daughter, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh announced that the suicide will be reinvestigated. He tweeted “Adnya Naik had complained to me that Alibaug Police had not investigated non-payment of dues from Arnab Goswami’s Republic, which drove her entrepreneur father and grandmom to suicide in May 2018. I’ve ordered a CID re-investigation of the case.” Recent controversies of Mr. Goswami Earlier Mr. Goswami has been in a row with the Mumbai Police over its investigations into a ratings scam and allegations that Republic TV along with five others was allegedly involved in making payments for boosting TRP's. Republic has denied the accusation. In recent months, he has been particularly critical of Mumbai police and Maharashtra state government over their handling of the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. He often accused the Mumbai police of being lenient in their investigation into the star's death. Apart from this, two FIR’s were registered against Goswami for allegedly communalising incidents like the gathering of migrants outside Bandra railway station and the lynching of Sadhus in Palghar. Remarks Union Home Minister Amit Shah condemned the arrest by terming it as "blatant misuse of state power" by Congress and its allies. "Shades of the Emergency! The arrest of Arnab Goswami is an attack on the freedom of press. Those who really believe in this freedom must speak up!" - tweeted Foreign Minister S Jaishankar. Prakash Javadekar tweeted "We condemn the attack on press freedom in Maharashtra. This is not the way to treat the Press. This reminds us of the emergency days when the press was treated like this,". The Editors' Guild of India expressed shock. "We condemn the sudden arrest and find it extremely distressing. The guild calls upon Maharashtra to ensure that Goswami is treated fairly and state power is not used against critical reporting by the media," the top media body said in a statement. Senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut said “The law is followed in Maharashtra. Police can take action if they have evidence against anyone. Since the formation of the Uddhav Thackeray government, no action has been taken against anyone for revenge,"