By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Nov 5:
The arrest of Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami on charges of abetment to suicide of an interior designer-Anvay Naik and his mother, at Alibaug in Raigad in May 2018, led to a war of words between the Congress and BJP, with former demanding action against police officers who had alleged suppressed the case earlier.
While Goswami was arrested in the early hours of Wednesday, his two associates- Feroze Shaikh and Neetish Sarda, named in the suicide note, were arrested on late Wednesday evening. The Raigad police, have sought police custody of the accused for 14 days.
The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Sachin Sawant said that when the case was registered, Goswami never presented himself before the Alibaug Police. On the contrary, his statement was recorded by police in Mumbai. No one knows why he was accorded “VIP” treatment. The BJP was in power in Maharashtra that time. The deceased Anvay Naik had left a suicide note. Yet the then BJP government did not bother to investigate the matter. As against this, BJP led Union Government went out of the way to transfer the recent Sushant Singh Rajput case to CBI, based on the suggestion by the Bihar Government, even though the suicide note was left by Sushant.
In all 233 sedition cases were filed in the Narendra Modi regime against people, including journalists. What BJP did to redress the grievances of those people ? Now why BJP is crying hoarse in this case ? Sawant asked.
Goswami who was picked from his residence in Worli on Wednesday morning, was taken to Alibaug police station and was interrogated till late Wednesday night. Besides a fresh FIR was registered against him for allegedly assaulting a woman police officer when a team reached his residence to arrest him.
Naik (53) who was found dead at the first floor of his farm house in Alibaug, had left a suicide note accusing Goswami, Feroze Shaikh of “icastX/Skmedia” and Neetish Sarda of Smartworks for not paying Rs.5.40 crore for interior work, due to which his firm-Concorde Designs Private Limited suffered severe losses. Goswani alone owed him around Rs.84 lakh, the note alleged.
The case was reopened after Naik’s daughter Adnya, met Maharashtra Home Minister Anil
Deshmukh. On 15 October 2020, the Alibaug police wrote to the local court informing it is reopening the case under certain provisions of the Code of criminal procedure (CrPC). A case was registered under sections 306 and 34 of the IPC against three accused by the Alibaug police. Further investigation in the case under section 176 (8) of the CrPC has been commenced in the case,” read the statement sent by the Alibaug police to the local court.
On Wednesday in Alibaug, Naik’s daughter Adnya and wife Akshata urged media not ‘politicise” the issue since they not only suffered monetary loss but are yet to recover from the grief after they lost the head of the family. My father and grand mother died due to the monetary loss we suffered only because of Goswami and his colleagues’ failure to pay the dues. Besides, the police’s earlier neglect, augmented our woes further, they added.
Some of the journalists in Maharashtra distanced away from the episode. The Marathi Patrakar Parishad, stated that it is a criminal case and all are alike before the law and let the court decide the matter. Similarly, the TV Journalists’ Association maintained that it was Goswami’s personal matter and was not related “media”. As such the matter should be left to investigating agencies.
Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan said that “Many journalists were arrested during BJP regime. Yet no one bothered. Then why now BJP leaders are so much bothered now? he asked.
However several journalists organisations across the nation came forward in Goswami’s support. In the meanwhile Maharashtra BJP has announced that its workers would wear black armed bands till such time Goswami is released.
