Maharashtra Police Arrested Republic TV Editor-In-Chief Arnab Goswami And 2 Others In Abetment Suicide Case Of 2018

Mumbai: The Raigad police early Wednesday arrested Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and two others on charges of abetment to suicide of a 53-year-old interior designer and his mother in 2018.

Two other who were arrested have been identified as Feroz Shaikh and Nitesh Sarda. Goswami was arrested from Worli, Feroz Shaikh from Kandivali and Nitesh Sarda from Jogeshwari.

Arnab was arrested in a joint operation by the Raigad police and the Mumbai Police. A team consisting of API Sachin Waze picked up Arnab from his residence.

“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),” a police official said.

An FIR was registered against Arnab Goswami for allegedly assaulting a lady police officer when police team reached his residence in Mumbai this morning.

The case pertains to suicide by Anvay Naik, the managing director of architect firm Concord Design Private Limited whom the channel reportedly owed Rs 83 lakh for building the channel’s studio. Two other companies IcastX/Skimedia, and Smartworks also failed to clear its dues. The three companies collectively owed Rs 5.40 crore, the police said.

While defending the police action against Goswami, Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh said that no one was above the law.

”Arnab took around one hour to open the door”
High drama followed the arrest Arnab Goswami when the Alibaug police along with a Mumbai police team went to arrest him at his Worli house.

The Alibaug police had sought the assistance of the Mumbai Police fearing the news anchor may create obstacles.

Mumbai crime branch team led by assistant inspector Sachin Waze, along with Special Operation Squad of the city police and police team headed by Alibaug SP Ashok Dudhe, reached Arnab’s house at 6am. Sources said that the entire operation was kept secret and even the local NM Joshi Marg police did not know what was going until the team reached the 17th floor of the building where Goswami lives.

Arnab was provided with Y-Plus category security by the Centre after he was attacked a few months ago.

According to police, Goswami and his wife took almost an hour to open the door.

“Arnab and his wife Samyabrata refused to open the door for nearly an hour despite us telling them that we have come to arrest him in the Alibaug case. We had deputed a policeman to video record the entire sequence of event to avoid any allegations,” said a senior police officer.

When Arnab opened the door, his wife started video recording and alleged that the police assaulted him. Police said that there is no need for them to have an arrest warrant in the IPC 306 abetment to suicide case.

When police handed over them the notice for intimation of arrest, his wife tore the papers, police said. Police team then forced Arnab in the police van and made a station diary entry at the NM Joshi Marg police station before handing him over to the Alibaug police.

Union home minister Amit Shah called Arnab’s arrest a “blatant misuse of state power” and information and broadcasting .inister Prakash Javadekar described it as “an attack on press freedom”.

Republic was perceived to be supporting right-wing political philosophy. One of its initial funders was Rajeev Chandrashekhar. He is currently a member of the Bhartiya Janata Party.

Anvay Naik Suicide Case:

Naik and his mother were found dead at their farmhouse in Kavir Village in Alibaug. Naik was found hanging from the ceiling on the first floor and his mother’s body was found on the ground floor on the bed.

The police had found a suicide note in English which purportedly stated said Anvay and his mother decided to take the extreme step since payments due to them were not being cleared by owners of the three companies.

Naik’s wife Akshata had lodged a complaint that Goswami of ARG Outlier had not paid Rs 83 lakh for the Bombay Dyeing Studio Project.

Two other persons namely Feroz Shaikh of Skimedia and Nitesh Sarda owner of Smart Work not paid Rs 4 crores and Rs 55 lakh he had carried out respectively. Akshata Naik has lodged a complaint of abetment to suicide against Arnab. Feroz and Sarda were also arrested on Wednesday.

Based on the suicide note left behind by Naik, police registered an abetment to suicide case against Goswami, Shaikh and Sarda.

Investigations from the post-mortem suggested that Anvay had committed suicide and his mother Kumud had been strangulated. Following that, the police also registered a case of murder.

The police suspect Anvay may have killed his mother and then committed suicide.
A year after investigations, the local police in Alibaug had closed the case last year stating that enough evidence was not found against Goswami, editor-in-chief of Republic TV news channel, and two others to chargesheet them in the case.

In May 2020, the home minister Anil Deshmukh had stated that the state CID will re-investigate the case. Deshmukh had stated that he had asked the CID to reopen the investigations on the request of Naik’s daughter.

Anvay was managing director of Concorde Designs, a Mumbai-based architectural and interior designing firm, his mother was on the firm’s board of directors.

Republic then had issued statement that it was a fake case as they had cleared all the dues of Concorde Design.

During the course of investigations Raigad police also found that Naik who had heavy debts on him, had filed NC (non-cognizable case) against a contractor in Mumbai after the latter had threatened him to repay the money he had taken.