The Bombay High Court today refused to grant interim relief in a habeus corpus petition filed by Republic chief Arnab Goswami against his arrest in a case of abetment to suicide, LiveLaw reported. Goswami's plea had challenged his arrest by the Maharashtra police yesterday.
The court said it could not pass an interim order without hearing the complainant and the state. The petition will be heard tomorrow.
Senior advocates Harish Salve and Abad Ponda appeared for Goswami. Goswami's petition sought his immediate release and the quashing of the 2018 FIR against him, among others, Bar and Bench reported.
Yesterday, Goswami was sent to judicial custody for 14 days by the judicial magistrate in Alibaug. He was picked up from his house that morning.
The 2018 case concerns the suicide of an interior designer, Anvay Naik, who was found dead in his home with his mother. A suicide note purportedly written by Anvay claimed he had been forced to take his life because of financial problems caused by the non-payment of dues amounting to over Rs 5 crore by Goswami and two others. The police registered an abetment to suicide case but closed it in 2019.
In May this year, Maharashtra's home minister Anil Deshmukh announced a "fresh CID investigation" into the case after he was approached by Anvay's daughter.
In court today, Abad Ponda said a further investigation cannot be done "without judicial order", LiveLaw reported, and therefore said Goswami's arrest was "illegal".
The division bench of Justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik said: "We will have to issue notice to the State, to the complainant and we will hear the case on some other date after vacations. But there are other remedies. You can challenge the remand order."
Also Read: Arnab Goswami’s arrest isn’t about freedom of press, it’s about the state’s misuse of power
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