Arnab Goswami – Narendra Modi’s ‘go-to’ propagandist and Republic TV founder and editor-in-chief has been arrested by Maharashtra Police on Wednesday on charges of abetment in a suicide incident back in 2018.
According to police sources, Arnab Goswami is being interrogated for his alleged role in the suicide of Anvay Naik – the architect who designed his channel’s studio.
Goswami is accused of not paying the dues to Anvay Naik – managing director of the architect firm Concord Design Private Limited, which forced the latter to commit suicide due to severe financial crisis.
Police team lead by Inspector Sachin Waze and comprising of Alibaug Police and Mumbali Police arrested Mr Goswami from his house in Worli, Mumbai on Wednesday (today).
According to police, Arnab Goswami refused to open the door for around one hour. Police has contended that no warrant was required as the arrest was made under IPC 306 abetment to suicide case.
In addition to it, Goswami’s wife tore up the notice for intimation of arrest handed by the police team. The police, preempting Goswami’s brash attitude and tactics had even deputed a policeman to record the whole operation in order to avoid any future allegations, accusations against the police.
Furthermore, the police have also arrested two other people, Feroz Shaikh and Nitesh Sarda from Kandivali and Jogeshwari respectively.
The Covert BJP-Goswami collusion stands unearthed
Arnab Goswami’s arrest is a major setback for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the brash journalist is the ‘go-to’ person by Indian establishment for fascist, right-wing propaganda labelled as ‘patriotism’.
Amit Shah – senior BJP leader, PM Modi’s close aide who is currently serving as the Minister of Home Affairs, took to social media to instead condemn the lawful arrest by police.
“Blatant misuse of state power against Republic TV & Arnab Goswami is an attack on individual freedom and the 4th pillar of democracy,” he tweeted.
Piyush Goyal – Minister of Railways, Commerce and Industry also criticized Goswami’s arrest on social media.
“Strongly condemn this attack on freedom of press in Maharashtra. This fascist move is a sign of undeclared emergency,” he said.
Arnab Goswami – The ‘Go-to’ Right-Wing propagandist for Indian government
Arnab Goswami is known for his brash and one-sided ‘analysis’ and ‘commentary’ overwhelmingly favoring BJP and other right-wing fascist Hindutva organizations in the country.
Goswami – the ‘poster child’ of right-wing nationalist, Hindutva extremists in India has been at the forefront of Indian government’s propaganda regime and has emerged as the most noticeable loudmouth advocate for anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan policies of Indian government in PM Narendra Modi’s era.
Indian media which in fact has been labelled ‘brash and bigoted’ by Al Jazeera, primarily due to the evident fact that its overwhelming biased in favor of Hindutva and fascist right-wing forces.
Arnab Goswami who holds a prime time talk show on Republic TV, holds a notorious reputation for brashly subduing and even shouting on his guests that simply disagree with his right-wing narrative.
Goswami still haunted by the ‘TRP Scandal’
This is not the first time Arnab Goswami has landed into hot waters with the law. Prior to this Arnab Goswami and his Republic TV was accused and in fact is currently being investigated for resorting to illegal means and measures to artificially boost its TRP ratings.
According to Mumbai police Chief – Param Bir Singh, BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) has provided substantial evidence of rigged ratings based on data of households where barometers were installed.
There was false TRP spreading. TRP ratings were being bought. The manipulation was mainly for advertising revenues and advertising revenue made by manipulating ratings is a crime, he said.
People were offered a monthly payment of INR ₹400-500 for their role in boosting the ratings, added the Police Chief.
Arnab Goswami is the Managing Director (MD) and editor-in-chief of Republic Media Network which owns and operates Republic TV in English, and Republic Bharat in Hindi.
Anvay Naik Suicide Case
Anvay Naik – Managing Director Concorde Design Private Limited, was found dead along with his mother back in May 2018. Naik’s wife, citing a suicide note left behind by her husband said that he had specifically blamed Arnab Goswami for his suicide.
Arnab Goswami and his Rebublic TV are accused of not paying INR 8.3 million to Anvay Naik and his firm for designing and building the channel’s studio.
In addition to it, two other companies IcastX/Skimedia, and Smartworks also failed to clear their dues to Mr Naik, taking the total amount to INR 54 million.
The development comes as after a year-long investigation, Alibaug Police had earlier closed the investigation citing insufficient evidence in the case. However, in May 2020 State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh announced that he has directed CID to reopen the case on request of Anvay Naik’s daughter.
