On Wednesday morning, around 12 policemen from the Raigad Police station arrived at the residence of the Editor in chief of Republic TV, Arnab Goswami to arrest him in a 2018 case of suicide abetment. As reported by ANI, Goswami claimed that he was assaulted physically by the policemen. The case is related to the death of interior designer Anvay Naik who was the MD of Concorde Designs private limited and his mother over irregularities in payment of dues. In response to the accusations made by Goswami against the Maharashtra police, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut told mediapersons that the state police is allowed to take action against anyone in case there is evidence against him/her. He further added that since the formation of the Thackeray government, no action has been taken in the name of revenge by the Maharashtra police. Goswami has been taken to the Alibaug police station. Subsequently, he was presented before the court by the police.

This arrest comes two days after the Supreme Court had said that it would hear on November 6, a plea by Goswami challenging the show cause notice from the Maharashtra legislative assembly for the initiation of breach of privilege motion against him in the reporting of the SSR’s death.

The FIR based on which today’s arrest was made, stated that Goswami and two other persons, Feroz Shaikh and Niteish Sharda had not paid dues of Rs 5.40 crore to Anvay Naik. This led to Naik and his mother Kumud Naik ending their lives. Both of them were found dead in their home in Kavir village in Alibaug region. In the FIR it was also added that Goswami of ARG Outlier, which owns the Republic TV, had allegedly not paid Rs 83 lakh for the Bombay Dyeing Studio project. Shaikh had not paid Rs 4 crore for an Andheri-based project while Sarda, who owns Smart work, had allegedly skipped the payment of Rs 55 lakh for his projects at Baner and Magarpatta in Pune.

In response to the arrest of Goswami, the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar stated that he condemns the attack on the freedom of the press in Maharashtra. He compared it to emergency days in his tweet. Union Minister Smriti Irani stated in her tweet that those who are silent after the arrest of Goswami are tactically in support of Fascism. Union Home Minister, Amit Shah stated that this arrest is a blatant misuse of state police power.

Editors’ guild of India has expressed shock over the arrest. A prominent journalist from the WION TV channel, Palki Sharma, stated in her tweet that one is not needed to agree with Goswami’s version of journalism to disagree with his arrest.