Arnab Goswami moves HC seeking stay on probe in suicide case

After Raigad police filed a charge sheet against TV journo Arnab Goswami in connection with a abetment to suicide case, the scribe has approached Bombay HC seeking a stay order on the probe.

Mumbai:Republic Network's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami on Friday filed an interim application in Bombay High Court seeking a stay on the filing of his charge sheet filed by the Raigad police in connection with the abetment to suicide case of an interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik.

Goswami has sought the transfer of the case to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or any other independent investigating agencies which is not under the authorisation of the Maharashtra government.

The development comes after Raigad police filed a charge sheet Arnab Goswami and two others in a 2018 abetment of suicide case. The charge sheet was filed before a court in Alibaug in neighbouring Raigad district, where the case for alleged abetment of suicide of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud has been registered.

Besides Goswami, the other two accused named in the charge sheet are Firoze Sheikh and Nitish Sarda, said special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat.

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As many as 65 persons are named as witnesses, he added.

Incidentally, Goswami had moved the Bombay High Court on Thursday seeking a stay to the filing of charge sheet, but the petition is yet to be heard.

Goswami, Sheikh and Sarda were arrested by Alibaug police on November 4 in the case, but they got bail from the Supreme Court on November 11. Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud committed suicide in 2018, allegedly because of non-payment of dues by firms of Goswami and other two accused.

The case, closed for want of evidence in 2019, was reopened in May this year, with Goswami alleging that the Maharashtra government was pursuing a vendetta against him for his work as a TV journalist.

With PTI inputs