Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami on Wednesday was detained by Mumbai police from his home in connection with the death of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik in 2018.
The case dates back to 2018 when Anvay Naik, a 53-year old interior designer, and his mother Kumud Naik committed suicide in May 2018 in Alibaug. A suicide note was found allegedly written by Anvay which stated that Goswami and and two other individuals, Feroz Shaikh and Niteish Sarda, had not paid him Rs 5.40 crore which led to his financial constraints.
A case of abetment to suicide was filed against Goswami in 2018 but was closed by Raigad police in 2019.
Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh announced a fresh CID investigation into the case in May 2020 after daughter of Anvay Naik – Adnya Naik, approached the minister and complained that Alibaug police had not investigated the case.
Back then, the complaint was filed against Goswami by Anvay's wife Akshata as the suicide note contained his name, along with others.
Anvay, who was the managing director of Concorde Designs Private Limited, previously provided some services to Republic.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar has condemned the arrest and said that it "reminds of emergency days".
"We condemn the attack on press freedom in #Maharashtra. This is not the way to treat the Press. This reminds us of the emergency days when the press was treated like this," he tweeted.
Goswami is also embroiled in a TRP scam which was uncovered earlier in October where Republic TV is accused of rigging TRP numbers. The case is currently being investigated by Mumbai police.
