Bombay HC refuses interim bail to Arnab Goswami in 2018 abetment to suicide case

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Monday rejected Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami’s application for bail in a 2018 abetment to suicide case.

The high court had on Saturday reserved its order on Goswami’s plea.

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 Lower Parel residence in Mumbai, Goswami was taken to Alibaug, where the Chief Judicial Magistrate remanded him and the two others in judicial custody till November 18.

Goswami was then kept at a local school which designated as a Covid-19 centre for the Alibaug prison. He was shifted to Taloja jail in Maharashtra’s Raigad district on Sunday. According to the police, Goswami was moved to Taloja jail after allegedly being found using a mobile phone while in judicial custody.

The Raigad crime branch found Goswami was active on social media using somebody’s mobile phone, despite his personal mobile phone having been seized by police when he was taken into custody on November 4, an official quoted by news agency PTI said.

Goswami had earlier filed an interim bail plea before the Bombay high court on Saturday which had given him an option to file the application in the sessions court. The journalist did that and filed a bail plea before a sessions court on Monday.