The Bombay High Court on Wednesday provided a huge relief to controversial TV anchor Arnab Goswami by directing the Mumbai Police to not arrest the Republic TV founder without him at least three days of notice in the TRP Scam case. The Bench comprising Justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale rejected the Maharashtra government lawyer’s argument that Goswami had to face the investigation and could not claim any special status.
A report by news agency PTI said that the Bench also reminded the police that it had not named Goswami as an accused in the case despite having investigated the matter for over three months. The police had earlier said that the controversial anchor was named as a suspect in the charge-sheet.
The Bench, according to the Bar and Bench website, said that the police were free to summon Goswami for interrogation but the anchor must be given a prior notice if the investigating officer feels there was enough evidence to arrest the Republic TV founder.
Goswami’s lawyer Ashok Mundargi argued that the criminal law in the country did not provide for the police to name someone merely as a suspect and not name him or her as an accused in charge-sheet.
The Mumbai Police had earlier arrested Goswami’s CEO in the same case and have grilled many Republic TV employees. Goswami was earlier arrested in an abetment to suicide case and was sent to jail for a week before the Supreme Court held an extraordinary hearing to order his release from Navi Mumbai’s Taloja Jail.