In the early morning hours of Wednesday, officials from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Maharashtra raided Goswami’s Mumbai residence and detained him to investigate his involvement in the alleged 2018 suicide of a mother and son – Anvay Naik and Kumud Naik.
Anvay was a 53-year old interior designer leading a firm called Concorde Designs Private Limited. His mother was one of the company’s board members. In 2018, the mother-son duo committed suicide in Alibaug – a little beach-town on the outskirts of Mumbai. At the time, Anvay’s wife Akshata found a suicide note that said that her husband and mother-in-law were undergoing financial stress after Goswami and two others failed to re-pay their dues, amounting to over $2 million (INR 154 mil.). The designer worked on the Republic TV office in Mumbai, and payments were incomplete, according to the Naik family. Video messages from Naik's wife have been going viral, where she is demanding justice for the death of her husband and mother-in-law, urging the authorities to instigate strict action against him.
Pictures and videos of Goswami being taken in the police van have made it to social media. Meanwhile, reporting the incident, Republic TV has claimed that their editor-in-chief and his son were “assaulted” by the police officials, after which Goswami was “dragged” into the police van.
Arnab’s arrest comes at a time when the case of a TRP scam is already being investigated against Republic TV.
Meanwhile, India’s Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javedkar, along with other cabinet ministers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government have condemned Goswami’s detention on the premise that Maharashtra Police could be establishing borders with Goswami, who has been bringing them under the spotlight.
More details on the case are awaited.