The Raigad police on Friday filed a chargesheet against Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami and two others in the case of alleged abetment of suicide of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother in 2018.
The chargesheet is of 1,914 pages and names Mr. Goswami, Feroz Shaikh of IcastX/Skimedia and Neetish Sarda of Smartworks. It states that Mr. Goswami owed Naik close to ₹84 lakh for the Bombay Dyeing studio project at Lower Parel, Mr. Shaikh owed Naik ₹4 crore and ₹7 lakh for his project at Andheri and Mr. Sarda owed him ₹55 lakh for his projects at Magarpattaand Baner.
The trio are charged under Section 306 (abetment of suicide), which can lead to an imprisonment up to 10 years, and Section 109 (punishment of abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment) of the Indian Penal Code.
65 witnesses
Special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat told The Hindu, “The chargesheet has statements of 65 witnesses and will be submitted before the magistrate court at Alibag tomorrow [on Saturday]. After the court takes cognisance of the same it will be committed to the sessions court. Then charges will be framed and the trial will begin.”
Naik and his mother Kumud, directors of Concorde Designs Private Limited, were found dead at their Alibag farm house on May 5, 2018. However, in April 2019, the Raigad police filed a ‘A’ summary report and closed the case by stating that no evidence had been found against the accused persons. But in May this year, Mrs. Naik and her daughter Adnya pleaded with Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh for the case to be reopened.
On November 4, the mother and daughter held a press conference where they alleged that Mr. Goswami threatened the family and refused to pay the dues.