Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami was arrested this morning by the Maharashtra Police in connection with a suicide abatement case dating back to 2018.
He was detained from his residence with the assistance of the Mumbai police, and was taken to Raigad.
From what an article from the Indian Express suggests, there are charges against Arnab for abatement to the suicide of interior designer Anvay Naik, who was found hanging in his bungalow in Alibaug, in May 2018 (you can read the initial report, here).
Anvay’s mother, Kumud Naik, was also found dead in the house, and the investigation by the police had suggested that she was killed by her son before he took his own life.
Hence two separate reports of suicide and murder were filed in the matter.
Arnab came into question because Anvay, in his suicide note, mentioned that he and his mother are ending their lives, because they are owed money by 3 people – Arnab Goswami, Feroz Shaikh who is CEO of iCastX Technologies and Niteish Sarda who is founder of Smartworks.
As per a report from The Indian Express, the suicide note mentioned that while Arnab was due to give ₹83 lakh, Feroz and Niteish owed ₹4 lakh and ₹55 lakh to Anvay and Kumud’s firm Concorde Designs Pvt Ltd.
This led to FIRs against the 3, filed by Anvay’s wife Akshata Anvi Naik.
The revelation was big but the Raigad police found no evidence to make an allegation against Arnab at the time and closed the case in 2019.
A year later in May 2020, Anvay’s daughter Adnya approached Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh regarding the same.
Following which, Deshmukh tweeted:
However, the case never got to CID (according to the officials). It was reopened by the Maharashtra Police, though, that arrested Arnab today. He will now be questioned further regarding the payment (or non-payment) of the money.
Before this, in August, a video of Akshita demanding justice for her husband and mother-in-law was shared on the internet. It soon became a relevant topic of discussion as people started re-sharing the story with the hashtag