The Maharashtra Government has launched a witch-hunt against Republic TV and its editor in chief Arnab Goswami. After a marathon interrogation by Mumbai Police for over 12 hours in April 2020, the Mumbai police have once again summoned Arnab Goswami and Republic TV’s Chief Financial officer, Mr Sundaram, to the Pydhonie Police station on June 10, 2020, for interrogation.
In a letter written to Arnab Goswami and Republic TV’s Chief Financial officer, Sundaram, Mumbai police have asked them to appear in front of the investigating officer, Suresh Gaikwad pertaining to a complaint filed against them on May 2, 2020, under sections 153, 153 A, 295 A, 500, 505 (2), 501 (1) (B) (C), 511, 120 (B), of the IPC.
New FIR was registered against Arnab Goswami for his alleged remarks over the migrant labour protest in Bandra on April 14
Continuing its vendetta against Republic TV Editor in chief Arnab Goswami, Mumbai police had on May 2, 2020, registered another FIR against him. The new FIR was registered on his remarks over the migrant labour protest in Bandra on April 14, therefore it did not come under the ambit of Supreme Court order that had said that no fresh FIR can be filed against Goswami for his comments on Sonia Gandhi’s silence in Palghar lynching case.
The new FIR was registered at Pydhonie police station on the complaint of Irfan Abubakar Shaikh, secretary of Raza Educational Welfare Society and a resident of Null Bazar in South Mumbai. The complaint said that Arnab Goswami had tried to create hatred against the Muslim community by linking the Bandra protests with a mosque near the protest site even though there was no such link.
Shaikh said that in April, in a show on Republic Bharat anchored by Arnab Goswami, footage of the Bandra protest by migrants near Bandra railway station was used. The complaint said that protestors had only gathered at an open space near the mosque, but there was no link between the mosque and the protests. But “Arnab purposely highlighted the mosque to create communal disturbance in the city,” the complainant alleged.
Policeman tests positive for Coronavirus
One of the policemen who interrogated Arnab Goswami for over twelve hours in April last week had now tested positive for coronavirus, senior advocate Harish Salve informed the Supreme Court while arguing for the Republic TV chief seeking quashing of the fresh FIR against him. On April 27, 2020, Arnab Goswami was questioned by Mumbai Police for over 12 hours for questioning Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi’s silence over Palghar Sadhu lynching. He was questioned after the Congress party filed more than 150 FIRs against him in various states of the country. The Supreme Court had merged all the FIRs into one and transferred to Mumbai. A week later, a fresh FIR was filed by Raza Academy.
Over the Palghar incident, Arnab, during the hearing on quashing of FIR requested that the case be transferred to the CBI for further investigation since he has made serious allegations against the local police in Palghar incident. “It’s a union vs state problem and I have become a party to this. Of course I can go to Bombay High Court, my request is that the CBI can probe and file report,” Goswami said in the court.
