Arnab Goswami was remanded to judicial custody for fourteen days till 18 November by an Alibaug court late on Wednesday, 4 November.
The order of the court comes after the Republic TV founder and editor-in-chief had been arrested earlier in the day in connection with the abetment of suicide case against him being probed by the Maharashtra Police.
The local police force from Raigad had sought 14 days’ remand, on the basis that they needed to question Goswami, and he needed to be kept in custody as he is an ‘influential person’ who might try to alter the investigation.
Goswami’s lawyers will be approaching the Bombay High Court asking for the FIR in the case to be quashed, and have also filed an application for bail, his lawyers informed ANI. Both pleas are set to be heard on Thursday, 5 November.
What’s the Case About?
Goswami, along with two others, Niteish Sarda (Smartworks, owed Rs 55 lakh) and Feroz Shaikh (IcastX/Skimedia, owed Rs 4 crore), have been booked under Sections 306 (abetment of suicide), and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The suicide note of interior designer/architect Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik, discovered by the local police in 2018, Naik said that he and his mother were in acute financial distress, which was why they had decided to take their lives.
According to the note, their financial troubles had been caused because large payments owed to his company Concorde Designs Pvt Ltd, had not been paid by three clients, including Arnab Goswami/Republic TV.
The amount owed is said to be Rs 83 lakh.
Case Closed, Resurfaced
The case resurfaced after Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh ordered the case to be reopened in May 2020, following an approach by Naik’s daughter Adnya.
The Raigad police had previously filed a report to close the case in April 2019, which had been accepted by a judicial magistrate on 16 April 2019.
Naik’s wife Akshata – who had filed an FIR with the police back in 2018 itself – consistently pushed for the case to be reinvestigated, putting out several videos about the matter on social media.
Goswami and Republic have denied the allegations, and claimed that 90 percent of the amount due to Naik’s company for its work on the channel’s Mumbai studio had been paid as per the contract.
Goswami Claims Assault
When produced before the Alibaug magistrate on 4 November, Goswami had claimed he had sustained injuries on his hand and back during the police’s attempts to arrest him.
The court had ordered a medical examination to take place before it proceeded with its remand hearing.
Another FIR has been registered by the Mumbai Police against Arnab Goswami, his wife and son for assaulting a lady police officer at the time of his arrest.
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