Charge sheet filed against Arnab Goswami in 2018 suicide case

Arnab Goswami, one of India's top TV news anchors, sits inside a police van outside a court after he was arrested, at Alibaug town in the western state of Maharashtra, India, November 4, 2020. Credit: Reuters Photo

The police on Friday filed a charge sheet against Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and two others in a 2018 abetment of suicide case.

The charge sheet was filed before a court in Alibaug in neighbouring Raigad district, where the case for alleged abetment of suicide of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud has been registered.

Besides Goswami, the other two accused named in the charge sheet are Firoze Sheikh and Nitish Sarda, said special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat.

As many as 65 persons are named as witnesses, he added.

Also read: Arnab Goswami seeks stay to filing of charge sheet in suicide case

Incidentally, Goswami had moved the Bombay High Court on Thursday seeking a stay to the filing of the charge sheet, but the petition is yet to be heard.

Goswami, Sheikh and Sarda were arrested by Alibaug police on November 4 in the case, but they got bail from the Supreme Court on November 11.

Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud committed suicide in 2018, allegedly because of non-payment of dues by firms of Goswami and other two accused.

The case, closed for want of evidence in 2019, was reopened in May this year, with Goswami alleging that the Maharashtra government was pursuing a vendetta against him for his work as a TV journalist.