Following the ongoing cases against Republic Media Network in the recent times, the Mumbai Police has reached the residence of Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director of Rebulic Media Network, Arnab Goswami.
The Republic Editor-in-Chief has been arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide of a 53-year-old interior designer over alleged non-payment of dues by Republic TV, Press Trust of India quoted a police officer as saying.
In May, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had announced that a re-investigation has been ordered on a fresh complaint by Adnya Naik, daughter of the architect Anvay Naik.
Mr Deshmukh had said Adnya alleged that the Alibaug police had not investigated the alleged non-payment of dues from Republic, which she claimed drove her father and grandmother to suicide in May 2018.
The Editor claimed he was manhandled by the police and pushed into their van.
As per a report by Republic Media Network, over a dozen officers of the Mumbai Police on Wednesday reached the residence of Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director Arnab Goswami. Alledgedly the Mumbai Police team, did not have summons, documents or court papers at the time of the arrest. Police has also blocked Republic Media Network's employees Niranjan Narayanswamy and Sanjay Pathak from entering Arnab's residence and susequently sealed all entry and exit points.
A large number of Policemen had gathered outside the recidency of the Editor-in-Chief. This comes a day after the Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh called Arnab Goswami 'the biggest hawala' operator in the city of Mumbai.
"The courts of the country are watching this absurdity and the planting of falsehoods despite their observations cautioning the Mumbai Police from such unprofessionalism. The multiple u-turns of the Mumbai Police show that it is floundering as the fake case has collapsed. The Mumbai Police has tried to blackmail and coerce random people into naming Republic. The CBI now has a copy of the tape of their witness coercion. This witch-hunt will end soon because more and more people have seen through Param Bir Singh’s tactics. I am absolutely certain that we will get justice from the courts," Arnab said in a statement on Tuesday.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar took to twitter to express his concern over the mistreatment of press in Maharashtra and said it reminded him of the Emergency days
We condemn the attack on press freedom in #Maharashtra. This is not the way to treat the Press. This reminds us of the emergency days when the press was treated like this.@PIB_India @DDNewslive @republic
— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) November 4, 2020
In total, Republic Media Network's management & editorial staff have faced over 150 hours of questioning in a variety of cases like the TRP fraud.
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