Arnab Goswami was arrested on Wednesday morning from his Mumbai residence by the Raigad police with the help of the Mumbai police. Arnab currently is named in several FIRs filed by the Mumbai police but ACP Sachin Vaze confirmed to Republic that Arnab was arrested under IPC section 306 (abetment of suicide) in a 2018 case pertaining to suicide of an interior designer named Anvay Naik.
Speaking to news channel Mirror Now, Mumbai Police Joint Commissioner Milind Bharambe said, "The arrest is regarding the abetment to suicide case against Arnab Goswami. In 2018, an interior designer died by suicide with his mother in Maharashtra's Raigad area. The deceased in his suicide note held Arnab and others of Republic responsible for his death. He said that the network didn't pay him for his work which he did for the studio".
Bharambe further added that the local police in Mumbai only provided assistance and that Arnab is being taken to Raigad.
In May 2018, an interior designer, Anvay Naik, who was one of the freelancers who rendered his services to Republic in building their Mumbai studios, died by suicide. In a one-page suicide note, purportedly written by Naik who was the managing director of the interior designing firm Concorde Designs, it was said that he and his mother who was a co-director decided to take the ‘extreme step’ as their dues of Rs 5.4 crores were not cleared by three companies including Arnab’s ARG Outlier. It was alleged that Arnab’s company owed him Rs 83 lakhs. The suicide note only bore Anvay’s signature and not his mothers’.
In May 2018, Akshata, wife of Anvay Naik filed a complaint against Arnab Goswami and two others named in the suicide note: Feroz Shaikh of IcastX/Skimedia and Niteish Sarda of Smartworks.
In 2018, Republic TV in a statement had said that certain vested interest groups were running a false and malicious campaign, and maintained that all due amounts were paid.
The Registrar of Companies(RoC) records show that Concorde Designs Private Limited was based in Mumbai and Anvay and his mother Kumud Naik were the co-directors. The firm was involved in manufacturing furniture. The company had reported losses of Rs 4.45 crore in 2016-17 and owed Rs 19.6 crore to several debtors and had drawn an overdraft of over Rs 10 crore on their bank accounts.
Upon investigation, the police had then reported that while Anvay had died by suicide, his mother Kumud had been strangulated, suspectedly by Anvay.
However, the Raigad police had closed this case. As per the closure report that was submitted and accepted by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Raigad, Alibag, the case had been closed on 16/04/2019.
But in May of 2020, Anvay’s daughter Adnya approached the Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh seeking that the case be reopened. Saying that the Alibag police had not conducted a proper investigation, she purportedly asked for the case to be reprobed. The case was reopened and handed over to the CID for further investigation.
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
— ANIL DESHMUKH (@AnilDeshmukhNCP) May 26, 2020
After Arnab’s arrest on Wednesday, a statement released by Republic Network said, “With regard to his legal team, Arnab Goswami was blocked by the Mumbai Police vis-a-vis having legal aid present. Encounter cop and Param Bir Singh’s right hand man Sachin Vaze declared to Republic TV - Arnab Goswami has been arrested under the grave section of 306 of the IPC, in a mocked-up case. It may be recalled that fake charges of suicide were levelled against Arnab Goswami in 2018. The matter was investigated by the Mumbai Police and closed by a court of law after a closure report by the police noted that no case was made out."
Anvay Naik's family: We are happy with Arnab Goswami's arrest. There was a lot of pressure on us to close the case from the police earlier. Husband e-mailed Arnab asking to return money and that it was matter of life and death for him. He didn't meet our father @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/ChTzAnFzfR
— Mohamed Thaver (@thaver_mohamed) November 4, 2020
Family or #AnvayNaik demanding justice by doing a press conference pic.twitter.com/XKLcQdTAIH
— Ashish (@AshishXL) November 4, 2020