MUMBAI: Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Tuesday said that the state government will be seeking legal opinion on whether any action can be taken against Republic channel’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami under the Official Secrets Act 1923 on the basis of the leaked Whatsapp chats between Goswami and former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta.
Deshmukh was speaking after a Congress delegation led by general secretary Sachin Sawant met him demanding action be taken against Goswami for leaking sensitive information related to Balakot strike.
Deshmukh said he will be conducting a meeting with senior police officials to understand whether the state can take any action in this case.
He also asked the Centre to take note of the chats as they are directly related to national security.
Deshmukh said, “We have taken serious note of leaked WhatsApp chats between Goswami and Dasgupta. In the chat Arnab mentions the Balakot airstrike two days before it actually happened. It’s a serious threat to national security if such sensitive information was leaked," he said.
General secretary Sachin Sawant meanwhile said the Republic channel has also illegally used the DTH platform of Doordarshan without any agreement with them and a formal complaint was made to the Central ministry but no action was taken.
Sawant said that they have demanded action by the economic offences wing in the alleged DTH platform use case.