Arnab’s arrest appears to be prima facie ‘illegal’: Court
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A court docket at Alibaug in Maharashtra whereas refusing to remand Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami in police custody in a 2018 abetment to suicide case noticed that the arrest of Mr. Goswami and two different accused “appears to be prima facie illegal“.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Sunaina Pingle after perusal of the case diary and other relevant documents on Wednesday noted that the prosecution failed to prima facie establish a link between the deceased and the accused persons.
The Magistrate in a late Wednesday night order remanded Mr. Goswami and two other accused in judicial custody till November 18 in the case of suicide of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother over alleged non-payment of dues by companies of the accused persons.
“Taking into consideration the reasons behind the arrest of the accused persons and the arguments put forth by the accused persons, the arrest appears to be prima facie illegal,” the court docket mentioned.
The Magistrate famous that the chain of circumstances, the rationale behind the deaths of Anvay Naik and his mom Kumodini Naik and its reference to the accused individuals are usually not established by the prosecution.
“There is no cogent evidence submitted that warrants this court to remand the arrested accused to police custody,” the court docket mentioned.
A crew of Raigad police picked up Mr. Goswami (47) from his residence at Lower Parel in Mumbai on November 4 morning.
Mr. Goswami and the 2 different accused — Feroze Shaikh and Nitesh Sarda — had been later produced earlier than Magistrate Pingle in Raigad’s Alibaug city, round 90 km from Mumbai, and had been remanded in judicial custody until November 18.
The court docket ruling got here shortly after 11 p.m.
The Magistrate within the order famous that if the police case is to be accepted that Anvay Naik took the drastic step of committing suicide due to non-payment of dues by Mr. Goswami and the 2 different accused, then the query arises as to why his (Anvay Naik’s) mom Kumodini Naik dedicated suicide.
“Did she [Kumodini] die by suicide? There is no clear answer to this by the prosecution. The police have been unable to establish a link between the deaths of Kumodini Naik and Anvay Naik and the three arrested accused,” the court docket mentioned.
While refusing to remand the three accused in police custody, the court docket additionally famous that the police haven’t been in a position to particularly level out the so-called lacunae within the probe accomplished by the earlier police crew in 2018 within the case.
The Magistrate within the order additionally mentioned the case was investigated by the police in 2018 and an ‘A’ abstract report searching for closure of the case was submitted earlier than the court docket involved in 2019.
“The said closure report was accepted by the magistrate in 2019. Since then neither the prosecution nor the complainant challenged the closure report in the sessions court or High Court,” the court docket mentioned.
The court docket additional mentioned the Alibaug police didn’t search the Magistrate’s permission earlier than reopening the case.
“The investigating officer on October 15, 2020 only submitted a report to the magistrate informing that certain fresh material has come to the fore in the case. There is no record to show that the magistrate permitted reopening of the case,” the court docket mentioned.
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