Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami arrested in 2018 suicide abetment case

Alibaug Police has arrested Republic Television editor Arnab Goswami from his Mumbai house in connection with the death  of an interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik in 2018.  The news of Goswami being picked up in the case broke on Wednesday morning across the media. 

Goswami has been arrested after the case that dates back to 2018. A 53-year-old interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik had died allegedly by suicide in Alibaug in May 2018. According to a report in the Hindustan Times,  a suicide note purportedly written by Anvay was found in which he stated that Goswami and two others — Feroz Shaikh and Niteish Sarda —had not paid him Rs 5.40 crore which led to financial constraints. The Alibaug police had filed a case of abetment to suicide in 2018,  but in 2019 the case was closed by Raigad Police stated news reports.

It was in May 2020, that Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh announced a fresh CID investigation into the case after Naik’s daughter Adnya Naik, alleged that the Alibaug police had not investigated allegations of  “non-payment of dues from Arnab Goswami’s Republic”. 

The same month a video  of a woman named Akshata Naik, Anvay Naik’s wife making serious allegations against the Raigad Police (Maharashtra) and Republic TV owner Arnab Goswami, surfaced. Naik said husband and her mother-in-law had allegedly committed suicide in their farmhouse in Alibag in May 2018 and in his suicide note, “Anvay had blamed Arnab Goswami” and two others, Feroz Shaikh and Niteish Sarda, for not paying his dues. She alleged that that no substantial progress has been made in the investigation into the case. She asked that action to be taken against Arnab Goswami and said she feared 

In this video, Naik can also be seen making allegations against Suresh Varade, PI Alibag police station where he asked her to reconsider her decision of filing the FIR as it involves influential people. She says she went ahead with the FIR despite this, but the case is now at a virtual standstill with no real progress. She also alleges that she has not been given a laptop and a mobile phone back from the police which was taken for investigation. Even the suicide note was given to her after much persuasion. She apprehends serious threat to her life and says that if anything were to happen to her or her daughter, Arnab Goswami should be held responsible for it. She is also seen asking for protection for her and her daughter.

Anvay was the managing director of Concorde Designs Private Limited which gave some services to  Republic. Naik’s mother was also on the Board of Directors of the company. The Republic TV at that time quashed the allegations of non-payment and attributed this to “malicious campaign” stated the HT. It had claimed that all amounts due and payable under the contract were paid by Republic TV to Concorde Designs.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders including Union Home Minister Amit shah have come out in support of Goswami and have opposed the arrest.

The Editors Guild of India also issued a statement expressing its distress and sought fair treatment for Goswami.
 

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