Raigad police pick up Arnab Goswami in connection with an old case, saying they have fresh evidence and new witnesses
Arnab Goswami being taken to Alibaug by the police on Wednesday. He has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days. Pic/Atul Kamble
Raigad police's Crime Branch on Wednesday arrested the owner of Republic TV Arnab Goswami in a two-year-old abetment of suicide case. The Raigad police, in 2019, had filed a closure report in the form of an A summary, but the case has been reopened as new evidence and witnesses have surfaced. Around 6.30 am on Wednesday, officers of the Raigad Crime Branch, led by Police Inspector (PI) Jameel Sheikh along with Mumbai police officers reached Goswami's Lower Parel residence and took him in custody.
Videos of the arrest went viral on social media, with Goswami apparently not having cooperated with the police. He claimed that officers assaulted him when the cameras were off. Raigad police recorded the events starting from before they entered his residence and till they took him to Alibaug Crime Branch.
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Akshata and Adnya Naik (right), the wife and daughter of Anvay Naik, who had killed himself in 2018. Pic/Agencies
Police also registered an FIR at NM Joshi Marg police station against Goswami and two of his family members for assaulting a woman police inspector of the Raigad police.
The abetment case
In May 2018, interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud committed suicide at their Alibaug residence. A suicide note left by Anvay blamed three people, including Goswami. It claimed that Goswami did not pay his dues worth R83 lakh after getting work done for his office. Naik's family took their case to Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in April 2020. Deshmukh handed the case to CID and the Alibaug Crime Branch started probing the case. After the police submitted a report with the chief judicial magistrate on October 15, the court ordered a fresh probe.
Goswami's remand application mentioned that the previous investigating officer, PI Suresh Varade of Alibaug police, did not look into all the evidence and worked in connivance with the accused. The Inspector General of Konkan Range has ordered a probe against Varade. Varade refused to comment. Police have sent Anvay's laptop for forensic analysis and the suicide note to a lab in Pune.
The remand application said that police want to probe why Goswami issued a debit note to Anvay. Witnesses have claimed that Anvay did more work than what was mentioned in the work order and refuted claims that he left it half done.
Two others named in the suicide note, Feroze Sheikh, 42, and Nitesh Sarda, 25, have also been held.
'Father was threatened'
Anvay's daughter, Adnya, during a press conference along with her mother, Akshata, said on Wednesday, "My father was threatened. He sent Republic TV emails but they did not respond. We were stalked and threatened, our mobile phones were tapped. The case was botched up by the police as he is influential," she said.
"Goswami talked a lot about Sushant Singh Rajput's case. My husband named Goswami in the suicide note, yet no action has been taken. The people of India should support us, there is no need for political interference," said Akshata.
"We met the then Raigad Superintendent Anil Paraskar, Mumbai's Commissioner of Police Sanjay Barve and PI Varade but we were kept in the dark. We got to know only later that the case was closed," Akshata said.
Republic's statement
Republic TV in a statement said that the Naik family's claims are false and that Goswami's arrest is an act of 'revenge and vengeance'.
It added, "ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd has paid over 90% of the amounts due to deceased Anvay Naik's company Concorde Designs Pvt Ltd (CDPIL) as per the terms of the work orders issued." It added that the remaining sum was to be paid on completion of work which did not happen.
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