Exactly a year ago, Republic TV Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami was arrested by Mumbai Police in an old 2018 closed case of abetment of suicide. OpIndia reported how the Mumbai Police team of at least 30 police personnel, led by encounter specialist and erstwhile members of Shiv Sena Sachin Vaze, carrying assault rifles barged into Arnab’s house without any summons, documents or court papers, physically assaulted him, dragged him by the hair into a police van and arrested him. The police personnel not only stopped Arnab from handing over medicines to his parents-in-law but also physically assaulted him and his son, even refusing to let him wear his shoes.
Before Arnab Goswami was presented before the court, he had highlighted his injury marks and accused Pradeep Patil, Sachin Vaze, and seven other policemen of assaulting him.
Sachin Vaze and his team assaulted and dragged the country’s leading news network’s editor-in-chief from his home, shoved him into a police van and took him to Alibaug police station. He was shifted to a quarantine centre in Alibaug where he was kept in judicial custody for 4 nights.
Thereafter, Arnab was shifted to Taloja jail, which is notoriously known as a ‘hub’ for the underworld mafia and accused terrorists. The windows of the police van in which he was taken were covered with black screens to prevent him from being seen by Vaze’s squad. Hardcore criminals are generally subjected to this treatment.
The then Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh had rushed his right-hand man Pradeep Patil, who had allegedly assaulted Arnab Goswami in custody, to file the charge-sheet against the latter in the re-opened Anvay Naik suicide case.
Witch-hunt against Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami
With time, however, it became clear how, blinded by vendetta, the Maharashtra Government, the then Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh and his team had mounted a witch-hunt against the journalist.
Mumbai police at the behest of the then commissioner Param Bir Singh, had at first, falsely implicated Republic TV in the TRP scam on the basis of an FIR naming India Today. The police had also reportedly coerced witnesses into naming Republic TV in the TRP scam. Mumbai police had also sought details of all financial transactions of the channel ever since its inception. After this, the Mumbai police opened another front against Arnab Goswami, which was the 2018 suicide case that was closed back then.
It may be recalled that the state home department then led by NCP’s Anil Deshmukh had drafted the 40-member police team to carry out ‘Operation Arnab’. Kokan range inspector general Sanjay Mohite, who drafted the plan, entrusted the responsibility to execute the plan on encounter specialist Sachin Vaze.
The people who had gone out of their way to hound the Republic TV chief are the ones who are in trouble today.
Former Maha HM Anil Deshmukh, who initiated the smear campaign against Arnab Goswami
Sachin Vaze, the Maharashtra police officer currently under arrest had in September confessed before the Enforcement Directorate that the former Maharashtra Home Minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh had wanted Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami to be arrested in the TRP rigging case where some TV channels were accused of manipulating TRP to claim an inflated viewership.
As per reports, the tainted cop has revealed that Anil Deshmukh, NCP leader and former Maharashtra Home Minister, had been personally involved in the attempt to get Arnab Goswami arrested.
The NCP leader who started the witch-hunt against Arnab Goswami is now under ED’s arrest in an extortion and money-laundering case. Deshmukh (71) who was in hiding, was arrested on November 2, 2021, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after being questioned for over 12 hours in connection with the case.
Anil Deshmukh was the “primary beneficiary” of the proceeds of crime, according to ED’s statement in court, and was directly involved in money laundering.
The agency had initiated a probe against Deshmukh and his associates after the CBI filed its FIR against the NCP leader on April 21 this year on charges of corruption and misuse of official position.
The court has remanded the former Maharashtra HM in ED’s custody until November 6.
Encounter specialist Sachin Vaze who assaluted Arnab Goswami
Sachin Vaze, the right-hand man of former police commissioner Param Bir Singh, who on the instructions of the latter, had persecuted Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami is himself under the custody of NIA in connection with the mysterious death of Mansukh Hiren and the explosives-laden car found outside the residence of Mukesh Ambani. The Maharashtra Assistant Police Inspector was arrested at 11.50 PM on March 13, Saturday, after being grilled by the central agency for 12 hours.
Vaze has been arrested under Sections 286 (Negligent conduct with respect to explosive substance), 465 (Punishment for forgery), 473 (Making or possessing counterfeit seal), 506(2) (criminal intimidation), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code and 4(a)(b)(I)(attempt to cause an explosion) of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908.
After his name surfaced in connection with the matter, Sachin Vaze was removed from the Mumbai Police Crime Branch.
‘Encounter cop’ Sachin Vaze has a problematic past, to say the least. He was accused in the custodial death case of one Khwaja Younis. Under suspicion, he was suspended from the police force. After his suspension, he had joined the Shiv Sena and had been only recently reinstated by the Uddhav Thackeray led government.
Former Mumbai PC Param Bir Singh who carried out a lie-ridden campaign against Republic Media Network
While former Maharashtra Home Minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh and ‘encounter cop’ Sachin Vaze are in custody, former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh, who initiated the lie-ridden campaign against Republic Media Network and its owner Arnab Goswami is still on the run.
The former Mumbai police commissioner is wanted in several ongoing cases under investigation including the Antilia Bomb scare, Mansukh Hiren murder case, and the Mumbai police extortion case.
Reports suggest that the Maharashtra government is also considering legal opinions on the matter and is set to declare Parambir Singh as an absconder after it has failed to trace Singh. Earlier, the state CID had issued a lookout notice against Param Bir Singh.
While the law will follow its own path, it is incredible how justice has come full circle. After over a year of accusations levelled against the Republic Media Network and its Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, the truth has prevailed and Arnab has been vindicated. As per reports, the tainted cop Sachin Vaze has himself revealed that Anil Deshmukh, NCP leader and former Maharashtra Home Minister, had been personally involved in the attempt to get Arnab Goswami arrested, apart from demanding bribes and extortions worth crores from business owners.
Soon after Vaze’s submission before the ED, Republic TV issued a statement expressing satisfaction that it has been finally proven that the “case against Republic was fake, manufactured, fabricated, malicious, and designed at harming India’s biggest news network in a conspiratorial manner”. The media outlet stated that it is evaluating all legal options against all those who were involved in the plot and amplification of the fabrications.
