More trouble for Arnab Goswami, Maharashtra police to file chargesheet in Anvay Naik suicide case soon

Arnab Goswami walked out of Taloja jail on November 11 after the apex court granted him interim bail.

Nagpur: In more trouble for Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, the Maharashtra government will soon file the chargesheet against him in the architect-interior designer Anvay Naik suicide case against him.

This was announced by Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Saturday. Besides Goswami, two others are also accused of abetting the suicide of Naik and his mother in 2018.

"It is only after getting permission from the court, the investigation into the Anvay Naik suicide case, in which Arnab Goswami is an accused, is currently going on. Very soon a charge sheet will be filed in this case," Deshmukh told reporters here.

The statement from Maharashtra Home Minister came a day after the Supreme Court extended the interim bail of Goswami and two others for four weeks, stating that the judiciary should ensure that “criminal law does not become a weapon for selective harassment.”

It also said that prima facie evaluation of the FIR against Goswami and two others did not establish the ingredients of the offence of abetment to suicide.

Goswami, Neetish Sarda and Feroz Mohammad Shaikh were arrested by Alibaug police in Maharashtra's Raigad district on November 4 in connection with the case. Goswami walked out of Taloja jail on November 11 after the apex court granted him interim bail.

Deshmukh also said that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray does not need to offer an apology as demanded by the opposition BJP following court verdicts in cases related to Goswami and actor Kangana Ranaut on Friday.

The minister said the observations made by the courts were not related to the state government.

"The decision of the court regarding the Kangana Ranaut case is related to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and not to the state government. Hence, there is no need for the CM or the home minister to tender an apology," he said.

The Bombay High Court on Friday held that demolition carried out by the BMC at Ranaut's bungalow here in September was illegal and smacked of malicious intent. It also appointed an assessor to evaluate the damage caused so as to decide Ranaut's claim for compensation.