Journalist Arnab Goswami files bail plea in Alibaug sessions court

Bombay High Court refuses bail in suicide abetment case

Mumbai, November 9

Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, arrested in connection with the alleged suicide of an interior designer, on Monday filed a bail application before the sessions court at Alibaug in Maharashtra’s Raigad district.

Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court on Monday refused bail to the journalist in the suicide abetment case.

The sessions court is currently also hearing a revision application filed by the Alibaug police challenging a November 4 order of the magistrate’s court denying them custody of Goswami and two other accused in the case and remanding the three in judicial custody.

“We have filed a bail plea this morning before the sessions court,” Goswami’s lawyer Gaurav Parkar said.

Goswami and two others – Feroze Shaikh and Nitish Sarda –  were arrested by Alibaug police on November 4 in connection with the suicide of architect-interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother in 2018 over alleged non-payment of dues by companies of the accused.

After his arrest from his residence in Mumbai, Goswami was taken to Alibaug, where the Chief Judicial Magistrate refused to remand him in police custody.

The magistrate’s court remanded Goswami and the two others in judicial custody till November 18.

Goswami was initially kept at a local school which has been designated as a COVID-19 centre for the Alibaug prison.

On Sunday, he was shifted to the Taloja jail in Raigad district after allegedly being found using a mobile phone while in judicial custody.

Goswami had also filed a petition in the Bombay High Court against his “illegal arrest” and sought interim bail.

On Saturday, the HC while reserving its order said pendency of the matter does not preclude the accused persons from seeking regular bail before the sessions court concerned.

The HC had said if such a plea is filed, then the sessions court would hear and decide the same in four days.