Arnab Goswami arrest: Bombay High court to pronounce order on interim bail plea today

A two-judge division bench will pronounce its order at 3pm on Monday. Goswami was arrested last Wednesday by the Maharashtra Police in connection with a 2018 alleged abetment to suicide case.

A two-judge division bench of the Bombay high court will on Monday pronounce its order on a bail plea filed by Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, who was arrested last Wednesday in connection with a 2018 alleged abetment to suicide case.

Patna, India-November 8, 2020: People demonstrating in support of Arnab Goswami at Kargil Chowk, in Patna, Bihar, India on Sunday, November 08, 2020. (Photo by Santosh Kumar/ Hindustan Times)

The bench, comprising Justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik, had reserved its order in the case on Saturday, saying it would pass it “as early as possible.” However, a notice issued late Saturday night on the court’s website said the bench would pronounce its order at 3pm on November 9.

The bench had been hearing Goswami’s plea for three days, including Saturday, after he filed an interim bail plea there, calling his November 4 arrest “illegal”. Goswami, along with two other accused in the case - Firoz Shaikh and Neetish Sarda - was, on the day of his arrest, sent to 14-day judicial custody by chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Alibaug, rejecting Maharashtra Police’s plea for police custody.

Also on Monday, a sessions court in Alibaug will take up Maharashtra Police’ plea against the CJM’s order.

On Sunday, Goswami was transferred from a makeshift quarantine centre in Alibaug, where he had been kept, to Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai after he was allegedly found using a cellphone. A video shared by Republic TV showed Goswami alleging he was assaulted at the quarantine centre, and claiming there was threat to his life.

Goswami has been arrested in a case which pertains to death by alleged suicide of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud in May 2018, nearly a year after Republic TV was launched. In a suicide note, Naik had accused Goswami, Shaikh and Sarda of non-payment of dues amounting to Rs 5.4 crore, because of which, Naik wrote, he was being forced to take such a step.

While the case was earlier closed by the Raigad Police, Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh ordered a reinvestigation in it earlier this year.