SC declines to consider Republic TV's plea to protect staff against arrest, transfer cases to CBI

A bench presided by Justice D Y Chandrachud termed the plea "ambitious" and asked the petitioner to approach the high court

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a plea by Republic TV to protect all its employees from arrest, transfer all cases lodged against it to the CBI and order a probe against Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.

A bench presided by Justice D Y Chandrachud termed the plea "ambitious" and asked the petitioner A R G Outlier Media Pvt Ltd to approach the high court.

"You want Maharashtra Police to not arrest any employee and transfer the cases to CBI. You better withdraw this," the bench told their counsel, senior advocate Milind Sathe.

The counsel submitted that the plea was moved to stop the police from hounding the TV channel and its employees.

As the bench indicated that it was not inclined to consider the petition, Sathe asked the court to allow it to avail other remedies.

Finally, the court allowed the company to withdraw the petition.

Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV had launched a blistering attack on Mumbai police in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. Subsequently, a press conference was addressed by the Mumbai Police Commissioner on October 8 accusing the channel of indulging in a TRP scam.

The state police, afterward, reopened a 2018 suicide case of an interior designer and arrested Goswami, who was released on bail by the Supreme Court. A number of the TV channel's staff was arrested, and questioned by the police in the scam which the company termed "witch-hunt".