The Maharashtra Police on Wednesday arrested Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami house in connection with the suicide of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik in Alibaug in 2018.

Republic TV in its report claimed that Goswami was “assaulted and dragged” during the arrest. Goswami reportedly said that Mumbai Police also physically assaulted his mother-in-law and father-in-law, son and wife.

Meanwhile Several Union Ministers are among those who have condemned the arrest as a reminder of the Emergency.

“Congress and its allies have shamed democracy once again. Blatant misuse of state power against Republic TV and Arnab Goswami is an attack on individual freedom and the 4th pillar of democracy. It reminds us of the Emergency. This attack on free press must be and WILL BE OPPOSED,” tweeted Home Minister Amit Shah as reports emerged of Arnab Goswami’s arrest.

“We condemn the attack on press freedom in Maharashtra. This is not the way to treat the Press. This reminds us of the emergency days when the press was treated like this,” posted Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar.

Naik, a 53-year-old interior designer, and his mother Kumud Naik had died by suicide in May 2018. A suicide note purportedly written by Naik claimed that Goswami and two others owed him Rs 5.4 crore and had refused to pay it back, forcing him to take the extreme step.

The monetary transaction had taken place during the construction of Republic TV studio. When Naik’s mother learned about Naik’s death, she too killed herself.

The Alibaug police had registered a case of abetment to suicide the same month but the case was reportedly closed by the Raigad police in 2019.

But in May this year the Maharashtra government ordered a fresh investigation into the case against Goswami and two others by the state Criminal Investigation Department.

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The bench of justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah also issued notices to the Centre, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and union territory of Jammu and Kashmir where cases have been registered against Goswami.

The court also stayed all FIRs against him except the one registered at Sadar Police Station in Nagpur. It transferred the FIR in Nagpur to Mumbai where it will be investigated.

The bench also ordered Mumbai Police Commissioner to provide security to Goswami and Republic TV office.

The FIRs were filed for hate speeches and for defamation of Congress president Sonia Gandhi for remarks made by Goswami during his primetime show on the Hindi language channel of his Republic TV which aired on April 21.

Goswami had moved the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking a stay on the FIRs.

Goswami hosted a discussion on the Palghar lynching case on his TV channel which, he said in his plea before the Supreme Court, questioned the tardy investigation, inconsistent versions of the authorities and the administration and the state government’s silence on the incident.

Three people – two seers and their driver – were killed by mob in Palghar district of Maharashtra on April 16. reportedly in the presence of 10 policemen and forest guards.

Goswami accused the Congress, which is part of the government in Maharashtra, of leading a well-coordinated, widespread, vindictive and malicious campaign against him.

Goswami claimed that the FIRs registered against him are false and vindictive and have been done by the Congress activists to harass and intimidate him and dissuade him from conducting investigative journalism and bringing the truth before the public

“The complaints and FIRs are a part of well-coordinated and malicious campaign by the Congress and its members of instituting false and baseless complaints against the Petitioner before different police stations simultaneously in various parts of the country,” Goswami said in his petition.

The complaints and FIRs, Goswami alleged, have been registered with the intention to muzzle free speech under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

The petition, however, does not mention anything about Congress president Sonia Gandhi though some of the FIRs against Goswami are for criminal defamation of Gandhi.

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