The Maharashtra Police's Raigad unit on Wednesday raided the home of Republic TV owner and arrested its Chief Editor Arnab Goswami in an abetment to suicide case. A senior police officer said that Goswami was arrested in the abetment to suicide case of 2018, which had been closed earlier and has now been reopened.
WHAT IS THE CASE ALL ABOUT
This case is from May 2018 when a 53-year-old interior designer Avnay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik died by suicide at his farm house in Alibaug. A suicide note allegedly noted by Anvay was found in which he accused editor-in-chief of Republic TV Arnab Goswami, Feroz Shaikh of IcastX/Skimedia and Neetish Sarda of Smartworks, for not paying dues, of Rs 5.40 crore for the interiors work done for them due to which his firm Concorde Designs Private Limited, suffered severe losses.
As per the FIR registered by his wife under Section 306 of IPC for abetment of suicide, Arnab has allegedly not paid dues Rs 83 lakh, while Shaikh owed her husband Rs 4 crore for his project in Mumbai. Sarda is alleged to have not paid Rs 55 lakh for his projects in Pune.
In 2018, the Alibaug police had lodged a case of abetment to suicide but last year the case was closed by Raigad Police.
In May this year, the state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh declared a fresh CID investigation into the case after Avnay’s daughter approached the state government and complained that the Alibaug police had not investigated the “non-payment of dues from Arnab Goswami’s Republic”.
