Arnab Goswami arrest: Revision application hearing in Alibag sessions court adjourned till Monday

The Alibag sessions court on Saturday adjourned the hearing into the revision application filed by Alibag police seeking custodial interrogation of Republic TV editor-in-chief

The Alibag sessions court on Saturday adjourned the hearing into the revision application filed by Alibag police seeking custodial interrogation of Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and two others to November 9. Goswami, Feroz Shaikh and Nitesh Sarda, who have been remanded to judicial custody till November 18 by the magistrate court, were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the 2018 suicide of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother.

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The prosecution has challenged the magistrate court’s order and filed a revision application asking for police custody of Goswami, Shaikh and Sarda for further investigating the case.

Special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat, in the sessions court on Saturday, read out contents of the suicide note written by Naik and said “the deceased had clearly mentioned names of all three accused in the note”. “Nitesh Sarda did not pay Rs55 lakh, Goswami Rs83 lakh and Shaikh had not paid Rs4 crore. Kindly collect money from them and hold them responsible for my death,” Gharat read out from the suicide note, adding that it was verified by handwriting experts that the note had been written by Naik.

“The investigating officer has full rights to arrest the accused without warrant and for further investigation in the case. Judicial custody given by the magistrate court is illegal and inappropriate. The summary report filed by the previous investigating officer Suresh Warade was illegal which has been accepted by the court,” said Gharat in court. “Police should get custody of the accused. If the court wants information then custody should be granted. There are 18 reasons pointed out which need to be investigated… Apart from that some articles and electronic devices also need to be recovered from the accused for investigation.”

However, Goswami’s lawyer Gaurav Parkar sought adjournment for arguments, saying he wasn’t allowed to meet his client. “I had made an application to the jail superintendent to visit Goswami to take his signature on vakalatnama and his instructions in today’s matter. But the jail superintendent did not allow me to meet him. In view of this, I filed an application seeking adjournment on the ground of lack of instructions,” said Parkar. “The same issue is also being heard before the division bench of the high court. The court was kind enough to allow adjournment till November 9.”

SD Patil, defence lawyer of Sarda, too, said, “We have filed an application to adjourn the matter and it has been granted by the court.”