Republic TV Editor Arnab Goswami Arrested by Mumbai Police in 2018 Abetment to Suicide Case

Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami was picked up by the Maharashtra CID from his residence in connection with a abetment to suicide case filed against him and two others in 2018.

Goswami alleged that he was physically assaulted by the cops. Visual flashed on Republic TV showed Goswami being forced into a police van.In May this year, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said the state CID will re re-investigate the case. The case was closed by the Raigad Police last year. Interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik were found dead at their bungalow in Alibaug in May 2018. Naik’s daughter Adnya claimed non-payment of dues by Republic TV had driven her father and grandmother to suicide.

Repulic TV had refuted the allegations and had then said that certain vested interest groups are running a false and malicious campaign and making false statements and innuendos against the channel by exploiting a tragic event involving Naik’s demise. Last week, the Mumbai Police had booked the executive editor, an anchor, two reporters, and other editorial staff of Republic Media Network for broadcasting alleged defamatory news content against the police department.

Police said Republic channel aired the news that would incite disaffection among police personnel against Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh. The channel, police said, claimed Mumbai police personnel were rebelling against Param Bir Singh, and that his orders were not acceptable to them.

This is the fourth case against Republic channel. Its editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami is facing two FIRs, registered at Pydhonie and NM Joshi Marg police stations, for allegedly inciting communal tension. A case relating to alleged fudging of TRPs is being probed by the Mumbai Crime Branch while chapter proceedings against Goswami have been initiated separately by police.

The channel, in a statement, said the “booking of all journalists of a news media organisation, left unchecked, will have a chilling effect on democracy, especially within the state of Maharashtra”.