Days after the Maha Vikas Aghadi ruling partners Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress demanded action against Republic TV Editor in Chief Arnab Goswami in connection with ‘’Chat Gate,’’ Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Saturday said that the department has sought the department of law and judiciary’s view whether an action can be taken against the latter under the section 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923.
Deshmukh told Free Press Journal, “The home department has sought the legal opinion from the law and judiciary department on whether action can be taken against Goswami under section 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 over his purported WhatsApp chats concerning the Balakot airstrike.”
Deshmukh said the decision to take legal view was taken after he held a meeting with senior police officers after he received representations from various political parties. The minister also sought to know from the Centre how Goswami got access to sensitive information regarding the strike.
He was referring to the purported chats between Goswami and former Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) head Partho Dasgupta, which mentioned that Goswami was privy to the 2019 air strike, when the Indian Air Force (IAF) hit the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26 that year.
“The WhatsApp chat shockingly revealed that Goswami had information about the Balakot air strike three days in advance of the actual incident," he said.
"We want to ask the central government how Goswami got such sensitive information about the attack, which is otherwise known only to the prime minister, defence minister, Army chief and a select few people," the minister said. This issue is related to national security and the central government must give a reply on it, he said.
