The Congress on Wednesday asked why the founder of Republic TV, Arnab Goswami, had not been arrested despite the Mumbai Police registering an FIR against him in an abetment to suicide case.
Addressing an especially called press conference, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said that ‘some time back there was an FIR against Arnab Goswami under Section 306’ after an interior designer committed suicide complaining non-payment of his dues by Armab Goswami and other two companies who worked for Republic TV.
Khera asked, “We want to know what is the investigation that the Mumbai police has done so far? Why is Arnab still free without any anticipatory bail? Is the stature of the Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Arnab Goswami enough not to be arrested or interrogated?“
Chandrasekhar, BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP, was the co-founder of Republic TV, when the channel came into being last year. Although, he recently resigned from the board of directors of the channel, he had come for considerable criticism for not selling his stakes in Republic TV. Chandrasekhar was recently criticised for openly campaigning for the scam-tainted Reddy Brothers in Karnataka’s Bellary.
To mock Goswami, the Congress spokesperson repeatedly added ‘The Nation Wants To Know’ before posing his questions. Khera asked, “Where are the journalistic ethics? And why are young minds being promoted, to have a right of center ideology?
VIDEO
On Wednesday, Khera once again targeted Chandrasekhar asking if he, as owner of media houses, wasn’t deliberately compromising journalistic ethics by ‘forcing reporters and anchors to push the ideology and the agenda of the ruling party?’
Khera said, “Is it a healthy practice to allow politicians to use their office to push their business agenda? What is the action taken by the Maharashtra Police on the FIR lodged by Ms Akshata Anvay Naik, wife of the deceased interior designer.”
Police in Maharashtra had filed an FIR against Goswami for abetment of suicide after the death of an interior designer at his house on Saturday last week.
Police said that Anvay Naik committed suicide by hanging himself at his bungalow in Alibaug. The cops booked Goswami, Feroz Shaikh of IcastX/Skimedia and Niteish Sarda of Smartworks for abetment of suicide. The suicide note reportedly said that Republic TV owed Rs 83 lakhs to Naik, while IcastX owed him dues over Rs 40 lakhs and Nitesh Sarda of Smartworks owed Rs 55 lakhs to the deceased. Naik’s wife alleged that she had contacted Goswami’s accountant on many occasions, asking for the repayment of the said amount.
VIDEO