The Alibaug Police on Wednesday arrested Editor-in-Chief of Republic Media Network Arnab Goswami for abetment to suicide in a 2018 case. He was charged under Section 306 and Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
2018 suicide case of Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik
The case concerns the death of Anvay Naik, managing director of Concorde Designs Private Limited, in 2018. A suicide note by Naik accused Goswami and two others – Feroz Shaikh and Neetish Sarda – of not paying dues worth Rs 5.40 crore. Naik and his mother Kumud Naik were found dead in their home in Kavir village of Alibaug, Scroll reported.
Anvay was found hanging on the first floor, while Kumud’s body was found by the police on the ground floor. During the probe in this case, it was found by police that Anvay was in heavy debt and was finding it very tough to repay money to contractors.
For the uninformed, Neetish Sarda is an industrialist originally from Kolkata. In 2018, the Alibaug police had filed a case of abetment to suicide but in 2019 the case was closed by Raigad Police. But Anvay’s daughter urged the Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh to reopen the case. "Adnya Naik had complained to me that Alibaug Police had not investigated non-payment of dues from Arnab Goswami’s public which drover her entrepreneur father and grandma to suicide in May 2018. I’ve ordered a CID re-investigation of the case," Deshmukh had tweeted in May.
Back in August, the wife of the interior designer had called for action against Goswami in a video message on Twitter.
The caption of the tweet read, "Arnab Goswami is shouting for Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide, but what about my husband and mother-in-law who suicided because of Mr. Arnab Goswami? What is happening to my case? When will justice be granted to our family? WHY STILL THERE IS NO ACTION?"