Senior Mumbai cop sues Arnab Goswami for defamation

In the suit filed in the sessions court, Deputy Commissioner of police Abhishek Trimukhe sought to prosecute Goswami and his wife and also sought compensation for defamation.

A senior Mumbai police officer has sued Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, his wife and ARG Outlier Media Pvt. Ltd, the news channel’s parent, for criminal defamation, saying the news anchor had harmed his reputation in broadcasts and Twitter posts on the investigation into the June 2020 death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

The police officer alleged that the same content was also published on the microblogging site Twitter by Goswami later. (HT Photo)

In the suit filed in the sessions court on Tuesday and made public on Wednesday, deputy commissioner of police Abhishek Trimukhe sought to prosecute Goswami and his wife under section 500 (punishment for defamation) and section 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory) of the Indian Penal Code, and sought compensation for defamation.

A statement put out by a legal advisor for Republic TV on Wednesday night said the channel’s initial reading of the complaint was that the officer was referring to tweets from a fake Twitter handle impersonating as Goswami’s, and said it would respond legally, “as per due process .”

Trimukhe claimed that Goswami made several defamatory statements against him during a panel discussion pertaining to the phone records of Rhea Chakraborty, an actor and Rajput’s girlfriend, in connection with the June 14, 2020 death of Rajput by suspected suicide. Trimukhe claimed that the discussion was posted on the YouTube channel of the company on August 7.

The police officer alleged that the same content was also published on the microblogging site Twitter by Goswami later on. “Accused No. 1 (Goswami) has published several defamatory tweets and has essentially reiterated and re-circulated the contents of the defamatory telecast to an even larger audience by means of Twitter. The Tweets are without context and have been wilfully circulated to damage the complainant’s reputation,” states the complaint.

“The accused persons are well aware that investigation into the death of late Mr. Sushant Sing Rajput (being a well-known Bollywood star) will garner significant public interest. The accused persons, instead of conducting themselves as responsible journalists (self-proclaimed) / citizens, have chosen to profit from the situation by sensationalising and scandalising the same, and using Mr Sushant Singh Rajput’s death and photograph (by tagging him) to disseminate the story to as many people as possible, all the while intending to defame the complainant,” read the complaint.

Trimukhe said he sought permission from the state government to file the defamation complaint against Goswami, his wife and the company that owns the channel. Trimukhe filed the complaint only after the state government allowed him to go ahead with the suit on October 23 last year.