Less than an hour after reaching Delhi's Rajghat area to lead a protest seeking the release of journalist Arnab Goswami, BJP leaders Kapil Mishra and Tajinder Bagga have been arrested. About an hour earlier, Mishra had tweeted to announce that the two had reached, and that the Delhi Police had imposed Section 144 in Rajghat.
The update was shared by the duo via their Twitter handles. They have since been brought to the Rajendra Nagar police station, Bagga tweeted. As per a post by lawyer and Spanda Foundation Chairperson, Prashant Patel Umrao, 50 people have been "arrested by Delhi Police for supporting Arnab Goswami".
Earlier in the day, the two leaders had announced to their considerable social media following that at 9 am they would be taking part in the protest to "Free Arnab Goswami". A poster of sorts shared by the leaders also urged the "Sonia Sena" to stop suppressing the media. Everyone had been invited to join the "Satyagraha" to lend their voice to the call for freeing Goswami.
In recent days, Arnab Goswami has tussled repeatedly with the police and administration in Maharashtra. Most recently, the Republic TV Editor-in-Chief has been arrested in an abetment of suicide case on November 4. He has thus far failed to get any immediate relief, with the Bombay High Court on Saturday reserving its order on his interim bail plea. The court has said he can move the sessions court for regular bail in the meantime.
The case in question pertains to the suicide of architect-interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother in 2018 over alleged non-payment of dues by the accused's respective firms. Alongside Goswami, Feroze Shaikh and Nitish Sarda also stand accused. The suicide note purportedly written by Anvay Naik, managing director of Concorde Designs Private Limited, said he was forced to take his life as he was not paid dues of Rs 5.40 crore by the three accused. His daughter had claimed earlier this year that Alibag Police in neighbouring Raigad district did not probe the non-payment of dues that had driven them to take this step. The Maharashtra government said in May this year that it had ordered reinvestigation by the CID.
