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Mumbai Police on Wednesday, November 4, detained Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami from his Mumbai residence in connection with the death of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik in 2018.
Several BJP leaders took to Twitter to condemn Goswami's detention and called it an 'attack on press freedom in Maharashtra'.
Republic TV claimed that Goswami was "assaulted and dragged" by the cops. Goswami reportedly said that Mumbai Police also physically assaulted his mother-in-law and father-in-law, son and wife, News18 reported.
In May 2018, a 53-year-old interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik died by suicide in Alibaug.
A suicide note purportedly written by Anvay was recovered in which he alleged that Goswami and two others - Feroz Shaikh and Niteish Sarda - had not paid him a due of ₹5.40 crore which resulted in deterioration of his financial health. Republic TV at that time had dismissed all allegations of non-payment and attributed this to "malicious campaign". The channel also claimed that all the money was paid by Republic TV to Concorde Designs.
The monetary transaction had taken place during the construction of Republic TV studio.
The Alibaug police had filed a case of abetment to suicide in 2018, however, the case was closed by the Raigad Police in 2019.
In May 2020, Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh ordered a CID investigation into the case after Adnya Naik, daughter of Avnay Naik complained that the Alibaug police had not investigated the "non-payment of dues from Arnab Goswami's Republic".
Goswami's detention comes at a time when his channel is already under the scanner for TRP scam investigation.
