Arnab Goswami arrested by Maharashtra police, Amit Shah, other ministers condemn it

Republic TV Editor-in-Chief has been arrested by the Alibaug Police for allegedly abetting the suicide of a 53-year-old interior designer. Visuals of Goswami being forced into a police van were aired by Republic TV. Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Ravi Shankar Prasad and a host of others have condemned the arrest.

A team of Alibaug Police picked up Goswami from his residence Mumbai. Goswami, who was seen being pushed into the police van, claimed that he was assaulted by police at his home while being taken away.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar described Goswami's arrest as "an attack on press freedom" in Maharashtra and said it reminded of the "Emergency days".

Javadekar tweeted, "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."

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.@PIB_India @DDNewslive @republic

— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) November 4, 2020

Terming the arrest of journalist Arnab Goswami as a "blatant misuse of state power", Shah said the "attack on free press must be and will be opposed".

In a tweet, Shah said, "Congress and its allies have shamed democracy once again. Blatant misuse of state power against Republic TV & 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," he said.

Irani condemned the arrest of Goswami, saying if those in free press don't stand up in support of him then they are tactically in support of fascism.

Irani, the Women and Child Development Minister, tweeted, "Those in the free press who don't stand up today in support of Arnab, you are now tactically in support of fascism. You may not like him, you may not approve of him, you may despise his very existence but if you stay silent you support suppression. Who speaks if you are next?".

Goswami and two others were booked by the Alibaug Police in May 2018 for allegedly abetting the suicide of 53-year-old interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother. Naik, then managing director of Concorde Designs Private Limited, and his mother allegedly committed suicide in May 2018 at their farmhouse in Alibaug.

In a suicide note, Naik claimed that Goswami and the other two persons - Feroz Shaikh and Niteish Sarda - owed him a total of Rs 5.4 crore.

In May this year, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had announced that a re-investigation has been ordered on a fresh complaint by Adnya Naik, daughter of the architect Anvay Naik.

Deshmukh had said Adnya alleged that the Alibaug police had not investigated the alleged non-payment of dues from Goswami's channel, which she claimed drove her father and grandmother to suicide in May 2018.

Republic TV dismissed the charges as the work of vested interests and declared it had paid all dues for the design contract.