The Magistrates Court of Alibag, Maharashtra, recorded reasons for rejecting Republic TV director Arnab Goswami’s request for police custody on Wednesday. The court put him in preventive detention for 14 days.
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Mr. Goswami was arrested on November 4 from his residence in Mumbai for allegedly instigating the suicide of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik, directors of Concorde Designs Private Limited, for failing to pay ₹ 83 lakhs for the Bombay Dyeing project. Studio.
In court, the prosecution argued that Mr. Goswami attempted to evade arrest and had not cooperated. The prosecutor said custody was required to question about some seized documents.
Lead attorney Aabad Ponda, on behalf of Mr. Goswami, appeared by videoconference and told the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) that no summons or notification was issued and after a summary report was filed, arresting his client was Illegal as Mr. Goswami was willing to pay the money.
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5 hour hearing
After reading the documents and listening to the arguments for more than five hours, CJM Sunaina Pingle said that the death of the victim was not clearly related to the accused. No court order was issued for such an investigation. The prosecution had not proven or reported the defect in the previous investigation, so police custody could not be awarded, the court said.
The order read: “The investigating officer on October 15, 2020 only submitted a report to the magistrate informing that certain new material has come to light in the case. There is no record that shows that the magistrate allowed the case to be reopened ”.
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The 11-page order also states: “All reasons for requesting custody are primarily the collection of documentary evidence, so custody of the accused is not necessary.”
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