Republic TV CEO and editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami has filed an application requesting the Bombay High Court to halt the filing of chargesheet and other legal proceedings of the Anvay Naik abetment of suicide case of 2018.
Goswami has also urged the High Court to transfer the investigation of the case to an independent agency or the CBI if the stay is not granted, citing “malafide” intent of the Maharashtra Government, and the “illegal manner” of his arrest on 4 November, 2020.
The matter has been listed for hearing before the Bombay High Court on 10 December.
The TV anchor, who is being represented by Phoenix Legal, claims that the intent of the Maharashtra Government was evident in Home Minister Anil Deshmukh’s recent press conference, where it was said that a “strong chargesheet” would be filed against Goswami.
In a plea, he has stated “It is pertinent to mention that this shocking premeditated political declaration by Mr Anil Deshmukh came at a news conference 12 hours after the Honourable Supreme Court delivered the said judgement dated 27th November 2020,” referring to the Supreme Court’s order on 11 November, which granted him bail and stated that the FIR lodged against Goswami was “frivolous”.
The plea said that Deshmukh was not only prejudging and publicly guiding the investigation in the case, but was also putting a timeline of progression to the case, making it clear that the entire investigation in the case was being ‘puppeteered by a political machinery’.
He has also maintained that the Home Department, Maharashtra state and Deshmukh’s letter seeking a re-investigation of the 2018 case is without judicial sanction and at the behest of the letter that is dated 26 May.
Arnab Goswami was arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide of 52-year old interior designer named Anvay Naik and his mother, in a case registered by the Raigad Police in 2018.
(With inputs from Live Law)
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