On the 4th of November, 2020 Goswami was arrested from his residence, by the Mumbai police in a 2018 suicide case of Anvay Naik and was charged under section 306 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

The nation wants to know, who is Anvay Naik? How is Arnab connected to his suicide? Are these charges true? Why is Arnab arrested now when the case belongs to 2018? Is he guilty?

Is it related to the TRP scam case? or the Palghar case?

To know all these questions let’s start from the very beginning;

2.5 years back, on the 5th of May 2018, an interior designer named Anvay Naik committed suicide and on the same day, her mother was also found dead in his Alibaug house. While investigating the suicide, a suicide note was found which mentioned three names including Arnab Goswami. The note pointed out three people who owed Anvay a sum of Rs. 5 crores 40 lakhs (out of which Arnab’s share was 83 lacs) and even after repeated reminders, his dues were not cleared which caused him troubles in paying off his debts and eventually bankruptcy. This entire situation pushed him to take this step, making them the reason for his suicide. On this basis, the police, in 2018, registered the abetment to suicide case.

After a year-long investigation by the police, in April 2019, the police filed an “A- summary report” stating that there was no substantial evidence against the people mentioned in the suicide note. Legally there is a clause attached to this report that when (if any) new evidence is found, the case can be reopened.

This matter was brought to cool then but the family of the deceased was not willing to give up. Under the BJP government in power, the wife and daughter of the deceased knocked on every possible door to get the case reopened. As soon as the power changed to Maha Vikas Aghadi Government came, the family again approached them and requested them to reopen the case. In May 2020, the home minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Anil Deshmukh, twitted in this connection that “the family thinks there could have been some political pressure and therefore reopening the case and handing it to CID for reinvestigating”.  Mr. Anil Deshmukh directed the police to investigate the case again. A special investigation team was made and on 15th October 2020, the court permitted the reinvestigation of this case.

As soon as the reinvestigation started, on 4th November 2020, all the three accused were arrested by police, while only Arnab Goswami’s arrest was discussed on most of the news channels.

Just after the arrest was made, Anvay Naik’s wife and Daughter held a press conference and showed their happiness. They were of the saying that,’ “now this case is truly free from politics, and the previous investigation was closed only because of Arnab Goswami”.

Republic TV, on the other hand, responded by saying that “the power has been misused because Arnab has questioned and criticized Maharashtra’s government many times and the government is doing this for revenge.” In connection to the debt amount, Republic TV said that 90% of the amount has been already paid to Anvay’s company and the rest was to be paid after the work was done, which they have not completed.

The arrest is also very controversial, where there have been videos showing Police requesting Arnab to co-operate and accompany them, there are also videos showing Arnab being pushed and forced to go with the police. There were allegations made by Republic TV and its supporters on the police that Arnab was ‘Assaulted’. Though on the same day in the evening Alibaug court rejected these allegations and said these allegations are made up.

After a few hours of the Arrest, many BJP leaders started to tweet saying that ‘Freedom of Speech’ has been violated, journalism is in danger, this situation reminds us of the time of Emergency, and likewise BJP supporters started the tweet chain. Smriti Irani posted, “it is your choice if you support Arnab Goswami or not, but if you remain silent today then tomorrow you too won’t be able to speak”. Certain hashtags were also trending in support of Arnab Goswami and few of the BJP supporters even came on roads to speak for Arnab.

It’s been a few days since his arrest, so, what is the status now?

Currently, Arnab Goswami is facing 14 days of judicial custody.

The Bombay high court is hearing a habeas corpus plea i.e. a court order demanding the police officials to deliver Arnab and show a valid reason for his detention, by Arnab Goswami himself, challenging his arrest by the Maharashtra Police and seeking interim bail. The court is also hearing a plea filed by Adnya Naik, daughter of the architect Anvay Naik, she has sought a reinvestigation into the case or transfer it to an independent agency.

The district sessions court in Alibaug has passed an order after receiving the information that the Bombay High Court is presently hearing a petition filed by Goswami and two other accused seeking interim bail and challenging their arrest. The police had in its application sought the sessions court to quash the lower court’s order and grant them custody of the three accused.

We hope and wish that justice is served right.