Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-Chief of Republic TV, has spoken about the abuse and terrible treatment he endured after his arrest in November 2020. Appearing on the ANI Podcast with Smita Prakash, Arnab stated that he was astounded by the treatment he received from the Maharashtra Police and the authorities.
Speaking about the intent behind his arrest, Arnab Goswami said, “By October 2020, Republic had reached such a unique position which no other channel, whether in print or television has reached. No channel has been numero uno in both English and Hindi in the history of India. I am not saying that this is a conspiracy but maybe a fortunate turn of events for my enemies who thought they would join hands at the right moment.”
“This never happened in the history of India where media joined hands with politicians, policemen, murderers and convicts. Look at the people they joined hands with. Now they can say they didn’t contractually join hands but they did opportunistically to bring me and Republic down,” Arnab further said explaining how the entire system was elated upon his detention and no one went to save him.
When Smita Prakash asked Arnab about his arrest and what he went throught, Arnab said “what happened to me in November 2020 is extraordinary.” “I am asking you today which editor in chief went through what I went through? The moral is that the idea was to crush me and to crush me in various ways. To crush me by physically assaulting me, bringing 120 group of people, 100 of them fully armed, 26-27 of them inside my flat. They were pushing me with the butt of their weapons, hitting me in the crotch, thrashing me and not even letting me wear the shoes. Locking me up in the loo of a jail. Doing things that are unbelievable. Shifting me from one jail to another, dragging me through my hair, unspeakable offences,” Arnab recalled the days in 2020 when he was arrested and put behind bars.
“They made the stiches on my hand open with another hand. They picked me up from my jail cell at 6 in the morning and taking me for ‘interrogation’ for 8-10 hours. It was an attempt to tone me down, to get me on a table to compromise. And, I can proudly say that I did not compromise. What was shown on Television about the arrest was just 1 percent of what happened in actual. They created a green corridor to take me from my home to the police station. They blocked 50 kilometres of traffic so that I can be moved through,” Arnab brought in a reminisce of how tormenting it was for him to see all what was going back then.
Arnab stated that all his moves and activities were being reported to the masters behind the conspiracy to put him behind bars. “When I was out of the police station to be presented in the court, I saw drones in front of me recording everything live and the footage being sent to the political masters. There were hundreds of people out there. I was shocked at the level of preparation they had for my arrest,” Arnab stated.
The Republic Editor said that he was treated by the authorities as a terrorist and a convicted criminal. “I was in a cell with 60-70 criminals and in jail with a thousand very very hardened criminals. There are people from the D gang, in your cell, right next to you. There are pedophiles and murderers and there are people who are deep into narcotics. There were people who played majorly with the Dawood gang and I was made to meet them, and I met them,” Arnab said explaining how he encountered people in the jail having links with Dawood Ibrahim.
“I did not use to sleep during the night. I used to stay awake and look at the ceiling which had reptiles that were lizards all over. I feared what if I sleep and they fall over me. Those days were horrible. But I endured. I made cordial relations with the other prisoners and used to share food with them,” Arnab recalled how he spent the time in jail.
The arrest of Arnab Goswami by Mumbai Police
The Mumbai police had arrested editor-in-chief of Republic Media Network on November 4, 2020. OpIndia reported how Mumbai Police team of at least 30 police personnel, led by encounter specialist Sachin Vaze, allegedly carrying assault rifles like AK-47 barged into Arnab’s house without any summons, documents or court papers, assaulted him, dragged him into a police van and took him away. Arnab Goswami’s minor son, his parents-in-law were also reportedly subjected to assault.
#BREAKING | Mumbai Police at Arnab Goswami’s residence amid witch-hunt against Republic Media Network; Tune in for #LIVE updates #ArnabGoswami #Republic https://t.co/rGQJsiKgt2 pic.twitter.com/htDkzXyprc
— Republic (@republic) November 4, 2020
In May 2018, an FIR was filed against Arnab Goswami in an alleged abetment to suicide case. An interior Designer had committed suicide in his bungalow in Alibaug. In a suicide note, Anvay Naik claimed Goswami and the other two persons—Feroz Shaikh and Niteish Sarda—owed him a total of Rs 5.4 crore. However, Goswami was investigated and case was closed by court after a closure report was filed by the Police. One can read about the case in detail here.
Arnab Goswami was at loggerheads with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government ever-since the channel went ahead to extensively report the Palghar lynching case and then the Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case. Arnab, who was being hounded by the state machinery for quite some time had said that the Maharashtra Government was scared that the truth would be revealed therefore they were attempting to muzzle their voices.
