The Mumbai Police on Wednesday arrested Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami from his Mumbai house in the case of abetment to suicide of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik in Alibaug in 2018. 53-year-old Naik had constructed Republic TV studio. Naik had died by suicide in May 2018. A suicide note by Naik had claimed that Arnab Goswami and two others owed him Rs 5.4 crore and had refused to pay him back, thus forcing him to take his own life. After learning about Naik’s suicide, his mother Kumud Naik also killed herself.
A case of abetment to suicide was registered by Alibaug police at the same time but was reportedly closed by the Raigad police in 2019. But in May this year the Maharashtra government had reopened the case and had ordered a fresh inquiry into the case against Goswami and two others by the state Criminal Investigation Department.
Arnab Goswami has claimed that police barged into his house at 7.45am and physically assaulted him and dragged out of his home in a police van. He said the police forcefully turned all the cameras off.
Several ministers have condemned Arnab Goswami’s arrest.
Union Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday condemned the arrest of Arnab Goswami by the Raigad unit of Maharashtra Police and urged the people to stand up against fascism.
Tweeting about the incident Prakash Javadekar said the country condemn the attack on press freedom in Maharashtra. This is not the way to treat the Press. This reminds the country of the emergency days when the press was treated like this.
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External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar tweeted, the arrest of Goswami is an attack on the freedom of press.
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Meanwhille, family of Anvay Naik is demanding justice by doing a press conference.