The Republic TV Editor-in-Chief, Arnab Goswami was arrested by the Maharashtra police in a case related to an alleged abetment of suicide of a 53-year-old interior designer, a case which has now been re-opened after being closed earlier.
In the morning hours of Wednesday, Goswami was taken into custody from his residence. Reportedly, he has been taken to Raigad police station, where the FIR has been registered.
The case is related to the death of 53-year-old interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik, which was allegedly due to the non-payment of dues by Arnab Goswami. Anvay was the managing director of Concorde Designs Private Limited which rendered some services for Republic. Naik’s mother was also on the Board of Directors of the company. Anvay’s wife Akshata lodged a complaint against Arnab Goswami as the suicide note contained his name, along with the others.
The Republic TV at that time quashed the allegations of non-payment and attributed this to a “malicious campaign”. It had claimed that all amounts due and payable under the contract were paid by Republic TV to Concorde Designs.
Although the case was earlier closed, however, the Maharashtra Home Minister said in May 2020 that he will order further investigation into it. In 2018, the Alibaug police had filed a case of abetment to suicide but in 2019 the case was closed by Raigad Police.
Reportedly, he had announced a fresh CID investigation into the case after Adnya Naik, daughter of Avnay Naik, approached him and complained that the Alibaug police had not investigated the “non-payment of dues from Arnab Goswami’s Republic”.
Soon after Goswami was arrested, Union Minister 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.”
