NAGPUR, Maharashtra: The Chief Judicial Court Magistrate of Alibaug in Raigad observed on Friday that the Maharashtra police did not take permission from the courts before reopening the case against Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami.
Goswami was arrested on Nov 4, 2020, in connection with an abetment to suicide case first registered in 2018 and closed the following year.
The Chief Judicial Court Magistrate’s observations, which were made in a remand order passed on Wednesday, contradict two senior cabinet ministers in the Maharashtra cabinet - Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and Transport Minister Anil Parab.
Parab had told HuffPost India on Wednesday that Goswami’s arrest was premised on an earlier order by an Alibaug magistrate court.
Parab had reiterated the same in interviews he gave to Marathi news channels on the same day Goswami was arrested.
“It is important to understand that the investigation into the 2018 suicide case of Anvay Naik was reopened after the court’s orders,” said Parab, who is a senior leader of Shiv Sena and a close aide of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh had also claimed that the case was reopened on the court’s orders.
“No one is bigger than law and Maharashtra police will act as per law. It’s true that the case was closed but Mrs. Naik moved to court to reopen it. The court granted her permission,” Maharashtra home minister had told reporters in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Akshata Naik, wife of Anvay Naik, did not respond to the calls and messages from HuffPost India.
Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik, who had threatened to launch a protest to get justice for the Naik family and had also raised a question over Anvay Naik’s death in Maharashtra assembly, told HuffPost India on Wednesday that this case was reopened on the orders of the same court which accepted its closure report.
“ Anvay Naik’s wife approached the same court and secured the orders to reopen the case,” Sarnaik had said.
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However, magistrate Sunita Pingale’s observations in order, in which she rejected the police demand for police remand and instead sent Goswami on 14 days of judicial remand, clearly says that no court order was secured to reopen the Anvay Naik and his mother’s suicide case.
The Alibag magistrate even termed the arrest of Goswami as “Prima Facie illegal”.
“On April 16, 2019, the A summary report in this case was filed since no concrete evidence was found against the accused and the court accepted it. Till today, it has not been challenged either by the complainant or anyone else and no court has canceled or rejected it. The investigating officer began a new investigation in this case without touching this report. He also doesnt seem to have taken the court’s permission for that,” the 16 th point in the Alibag court’s remand order reads.
This order’s 18th point claims, “It appears that the arrest and custody of the three accused are illegal. The connection between the two deaths and the accused and between the two deaths should have been established before demanding a police remand… The cause of death of Kumodini Naik and her death’s connection with Anvay Naik and the connection of three accused with this case does not appear to have been clearly established…,” the order reads.
A division bench of Bombay High Court is hearing Goswami’s application for interim bail in this case.
