Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami was on Wednesday arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide of a 53-year-old interior designer in 2018, a police official said.
The official said a team of Alibaug police picked up Goswami from his Lower Parel house in the morning. Goswami, who was seen being pushed into the police van, claimed he was assaulted by police at his home, before being taken away.
"Alibaug police arrested Goswami under sections 306 (abetment of suicide), and 34 (acts done by persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
This (arrest) pertains to the 2018 case of a man and his mother committing suicide. We have evidence (against Goswami)," the police official said.
"When we gave the intimation (of arrest) to Goswami's wife, she tore up the paper," said the official who was present at Goswami's home when he was picked up by police.
Soon after the vehicle carrying Goswami reached Alibaug, just over 90 km from Mumbai, he was produced in a local court, which directed police to take him to the civil hospital there for medical check-up, after his lawyer alleged the senior journalist was assaulted by police.
On May 18 Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud were found dead at their bungalow in Alibaug. Police then said that Anvay had committed suicide while his mother had been strangulated to death. It was believed that Anvay killed her before committing suicide. Police then registered an Accidental Death Report in Anvay's death while murder case was registered in her mother's case.
During the investigation, police found a suicide note purportedly written by Anvay, in which he said that they both had decided to take extreme step because their payments due were not cleared by the owners of three companies namely Arnab Goswami of Republic TV, Nitesh Sarda of Smartworks and Firoz Shaikh of IcastX/ Skimedia.
Here is a copy of the Anvay Naik's suicide note:
These three companies owed Rs 83 lakh, Rs 55 lakh and 4 crore respectively to Naik's Concorde Designs Pvt Ltd. Goswami had denied these charges and said that he had made the payments.
During the investigation, it was revealed that Anvay was in heavy debt and was struggling to repay contractors.
In April 2019, Raigad police sent a closure report in the court saying they did not find shreds of evidence in the case against three accused named in the suicide note.
In May Anvay's wife approached state home Minister Anil Deshmukh requesting him to reopen the case.
