On Sunday, Raigad police shifted editor-in-chief of Republic TV, Arnab Goswami, to Taloja jail to continue his judicial remand. Giving the reason for the shifting, police have claimed that Arnab Goswami was using a mobile phone inside the make-shift quarantine center for prisoners in a municipal school in Alibaug, where he was earlier kept. As per the regulations, he cannot use a mobile phone while in judicial custody without permission.
Jamil Shaikh, investigating office inspector, crime branch, said that they found him to be active on social media using someone’s phone. He said, “On Friday late evening, we learnt that Goswami was active on social media, using somebody’s mobile phone”. The police seized Goswami’s phone after he was arrested from his Worli residence therefore he didn’t have his own phone with him. “As the investigating officer of the case, I wrote to the Alibaug jail superintendent seeking an inquiry report as to how he got access to a mobile use in the quarantine centre. Thereafter, we decided to shift him to Taloja jail on Sunday morning,” the police officer added.
Arnab Goswami has no known social media presence
It may be noted that Arnab Goswami is not present on any social media. He does not have any social media account on any major social platform. Therefore, it is not sure how police ‘learnt that Goswami was active on social media’. There is no known social account of Goswami, so the question arises where he was active as claimed by police. If indeed he had posted something on social media, it would have gone viral, but nothing such has happened. There is no evidence that Arnav Goswami was ‘active’ on social media in the last 4 days.
Moreover, when Goswami didn’t have his phone, and phones are not allowed in jail, another question arises, which is how Arnab Goswami managed to find a phone in jail with an active data connection. The police officer was also silent on any action taken on that “somebody” from whom Arnab purportedly took the phone, and how the alleged phone reached the jail.
In the light of this, it seems that just like the false case on Arnab Goswami, this is also an excuse created by the police to shift Goswami to Taloja jail, where several notorious criminals and underworld dons are lodged.
“My life is in danger”
While he was being escorted to Taloja jail, Goswami shouted from the moving police van that his life is in danger. He alleged that the jailor assaulted him on Saturday. “My life is in danger, please tell the courts to help me,’’ he shouted from inside the van. Goswami further alleged that when he asked to let him talk to his lawyer, the jailer assaulted him.
Arnab Goswami’s arrest
Arnab Goswami was arrested on Wednesday for a now-reopened 2018 abatement of the suicide case of an architect, Anvay Naik. In his suicide note, the architect has blamed a few people, including Arnab Goswami, for not paying dues. Later, the court dismissed the case against Arnab, but it was reopened in May 2020 by the Maharashtra government.
