Goswami was taken to Alibaug in a police van and presented to the local court. The magistrate’s order of preventive detention for 14 days, until November 18, arrived around 11:30 p.m. Your bond statement will be heard on Thursday.
Videos of Goswami’s arrest that later went viral on social media revealed arguments, accusations, document ripping and pleas. While Goswami broadcast his channel live claiming that he and his son had been attacked by the police, the police, contrary to his accusation, later registered an FIR against him for pushing a female police officer while on duty.
During the first half of the court hearing, after Goswami complained of assault, the court requested a medical report from the local civil hospital. According to the doctors’ report, the magistrate rejected Goswami’s claims about injuries sustained in the alleged assault.
The case against Goswami, police said, was based on a suicide note that said Anvay Naik, a 53-year-old interior designer, and his mother had decided to end their lives because the payments totaling 5.4 rupees million owed to them were not being authorized by the owners of three companies: ARG Outlier (which operates Republic TV), Fierce shaikh from IcastX / Skimedia and Neetish Sarda from Smartworks. Shaikh and Sarda were also held on Wednesday from Kandivli and Jogeshwari.
Because he did not receive money, the deceased could not pay his suppliers, was under mental stress and was forced to commit suicide, according to the request for pretrial detention filed in court.
The police had closed the case last year, but following the instructions of the state interior minister. Anil Deshmukh, they moved the court earlier this year and reopened it. Police said Naik’s daughter Adnya had met with the minister in May this year.
The arrest led to charges of political vendetta from the channel and the BJP, who said Goswami was being targeted by the MVA government for having been consistently critical of him. Several Union ministers and party leaders compared the arrest to the Emergency-era crackdown on press freedom and said complicity in the suicide case had accumulated to harass Goswami, whose channel is considered right-wing and was initially funded by a MP who is now with the BJP.
Later on Wednesday, Goswami presented a ‘habeas corpus‘petition in the Bombay High Court challenging what he termed his “illegal arrest” and said a closed case had been reopened only to falsely implicate him.
Anvay Naik and her mother Kumud were found dead in their Alibag country house on May 5, 2018. Naik was found hanging from the ceiling on the first floor and her mother’s body was found on the ground floor of the bed. A post-mortem report showed that Kumud had been strangled to death.
Naik’s wife Akshata had filed a complaint that Goswami from ARG Outlier had failed to pay Rs 83 lakh for the Bombay Dyeing Studio project. Shaikh and Sarda owed them Rs 4.55 million for the work they had done, respectively.
Naik was the CEO of Concord Designs Private Limited, a Mumbai-based architecture and interior design firm, and his mother was on the company’s board of directors.
Based on the suicide note left by Naik, the police registered a FIR under IPC Section 306 for complicity in a suicide case against Goswami, Shaikh and Sarda.
In the request for pretrial detention, the police said they want to investigate the work order and recover payment receipts, debit notes between ARG Outlier and the deceased. Police said they sent the deceased’s laptop for a forensic examination to retrieve the email exchange.
The defendants alleged that there was a delay in the work and also that it was not adequate, according to the lawsuit. Police said they want to examine bank accounts for the flow of money and want to record the statements of the vendors who did the work.
The request for preventive detention indicates that the complainant and her daughter had received threats in Dadar and Murbad in May 2020 to prevent them from pursuing the complaint. They have filed a complaint with the ACP, Worli division. Police said they sent the suicide note to handwriting experts and for forensic examination.
In the afternoon, former BJP deputy Kirit Somaiya tried to meet Goswami in Alibaug, but was dragged away when he got in the way of the police van.
Attorney Vilas Naik, on behalf of Naik’s relatives, said: “During the court hearing, the magistrate admonished Goswami’s wife for allegedly recording the court proceedings.”
Alibaug Police in October 2019 submitted a closure report ranking it in summary ‘A’. Summary ‘A’ is where the magistrate classifies the case as true but not detected.
On October 15 this year, the Alibaug police moved the chief metropolitan magistrate asking for permission to reopen the case under CrPC 173 (8); after receiving the assent of the court, the case was reopened. Adnya Naik said they sent a representation to the Raigad police on October 12, 2020 and were called in to record their statements. “The case was reopened by court order,” said Anil Deshmukh, interior minister.
During the course of the investigation, the Raigad police also discovered that Naik, who had incurred large debts, had filed an NC (unrecognizable) case against a contractor in Mumbai after the latter threatened to return the money he had taken. .
Meanwhile, it also emerged that the Raigad Police Superintendent has been asked to carry out an investigation against the previous investigating officer for the alleged improper investigation.
When contacted, then-investigating officer Suresh Warade, who was a lead inspector at the Alibaug Police Station in 2018, said: “I am not aware of any investigation. I am currently in Nagpur to attend a session trial. The ‘A’ summary report for the closure of the suicide instigation case was filed in the Alibaug court after one year of filing an FIR, following the proper legal course. ”
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