A police officer said that an Alibaug police team picked up Arnab Goswami from his home.
Bombay:
Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami has been arrested in a two-year suicide complicity case, Mumbai police said today. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said it “reminds us of the Emergency” and condemned the move.
“We condemn the attack on press freedom in Maharashtra. This is not the way to treat the press. This reminds us of the days of emergency when the press was treated like this,” Prakash Javadekar tweeted when reports surfaced about Arnab Goswami’s arrest. .
Republic’s editor-in-chief has been arrested for allegedly instigating the suicide of a 53-year-old interior designer, the Press Trust of India quoted a police officer as saying.
We condemn the attack on press freedom in #Maharashtra. This is not the way to deal with the press. This reminds us of the days of emergency when the press was treated like this.@PIB_India@DDNewslive@republic
– Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) November 4, 2020
The officer said that a police team picked up Mr. Goswami from his home in Mumbai. The editor claimed that he was mistreated by the police and pushed into his truck.
The case involves the suicide of an architect and his mother in 2018 due to an alleged failure to pay fees by Republic TV, the official quoted PTI as saying.
The arrest comes amid Goswami’s dispute with Mumbai police over their investigation into a ratings scam and allegations that Republic TV is among three channels involved in tampering with TRP or TV Rating Points bribing to homes with meters.
The editor accused the police of harassing his journalists with subpoenas.
In May, Maharashtra Interior Minister Anil Deshmukh announced that a new investigation had been ordered into a new complaint from Adnya Naik, daughter of architect Anvay Naik.
Deshmukh had said that Adnya alleged that Alibaug police had not investigated the alleged non-payment of Republic dues, which she said led to her father and grandmother committing suicide in May 2018.
(With PTI inputs)
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