Highlights:
- Arnab Goswami granted bail in abetment to suicide case by Supreme Court of India
- SC observed Bombay High Court erred in its order while rejecting Interim Bail
- Raigad Police department has been directed to comply with release orders
On Wednesday, journalist Arnab Goswami took a sigh of relief as the Supreme Court of India granted bail to the Editor-in-Chief of Republic TV in the abetment to a suicide case of 2018.
Arnab Goswami had filed an appeal in the top court challenging the order from the Bombay High Court which had refused to grant him interim bail.
The Supreme Court of India observed that the Bombay High Court erred in its order while it rejected his interim bail application. Additionally, The Raigad police department has been directed to make sure the bail orders from the SC are complied with.
Imposing the conditions, the Supreme Court directed all the accused in the case to execute a personal bond amounting of Rs 50,000. Further, it has been asserted in the order that the accused shall not, in any way, attempt to tamper or tamper and/or try to influence any witnesses of the case.
A special Supreme Court bench was formed which comprised of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee who heard the case via a video conferencing during the Diwali break. The urgent petition was filed by Arnab Goswami after his bail was rejected by the Bombay High Court in connection with the suicide of an architect named Anvay Naik and his mother.
In the Petition filed with the Supreme Court, Goswami said that the balance of convenience is also in favour of the petitioner (Arnab Goswami) and he would suffer irreparable harm and injury if the Bombay High Court’s 9th November order is not stayed during the pendency of the present petition.
Goswami asserted that his arrest is “politically motivated, malicious as the respondents – Maharashtra state Government, and others – had harbour malice and ill-will against him”.
Arnab Goswami also stated that the Bombay High Court erred in law by refusing him the bail through its 9th of November order, asserting that his petition was denied when the investigation into the 2018 FIR had been closed by a closure report filed by the police and accepted by the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Raigad, Alibaug as per the 16th of April 2019 order.
On the 4th of November, Arnab Goswami was arrested from his Mumbai home in connection with the 2018 suicide case and was sent to 14-day judicial custody by the lower court.
The suicide case for which a closure report was already filed in 2019 was reopened after Naik’s wife Akshata approached the court.
In September 2020, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had ordered a re-investigation into the case after a fresh complaint by Naik’s daughter.
