Singer Sona Mohapatra has hit out at the people celebrating the fact that news anchor and Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami’s bail plea was turned down by the Bombay High Court on Monday. He is being investigated for his alleged role in the suicides of architect-interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother in 2018.
Taking to Twitter, Sona slammed the people justifying the fact that Arnab was denied bail and is currently in jail. “All those people smacking their lips, justifying #ArnabGoswami being denied bail & being housed in a jail inhabited by terrorists & underworld goons, please know that you are no different from ‘fascists’. You endorse ‘political vendetta’. That’s sick, 2 wrongs don’t make a right,” she wrote.
Arnab and two others – Feroze Shaikh and Nitish Sarda – were arrested by the police on November 4 in connection with a 2018 abetment to suicide case. In May 2018, Anvay and his mother died by suicide in Alibaug. His suicide note alleged that he was forced to take this step as he was not paid dues collectively amounting to Rs 5.40 crore by Arnab, Feroze and Nitish.
In 2018, the Alibaug Police had filed an abetment to suicide case but in 2019, the case was closed by Raigad Police. Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh tweeted in May that the case would be re-investigated on the basis of Anvay’s daughter Adnya’s complaint that the ‘non-payment of dues’ angle was not investigated by Alibaug Police.
“Adnya Naik had complained to me that #AlibaugPolice had not investigated non-payment of dues from #ArnabGoswami’s @republic which drove her entrepreneur father & grandmom to suicide in May 2018. I’ve ordered a CID re-investigation of the case. #MaharashtraGovernmentCares,” he had written on Twitter.
In recent months, Arnab has criticised the state police’s investigation into the death of Sushant Singh Rajput and the Palghar lynching case. He has also been critical of the ruling Maharashtra government. Republic TV said that the anchor is being targeted for his journalism, a charge that has been denied by the Maharashtra home minister, who said that “no one is above the law”.