Chandigarh: Republic TV editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami was detained by Mumbai police on Wednesday morning in connection with alleged abetment to suicide criminal case filed against him and two others in 2018. Arnab Goswami was already facing criminal proceedings in three other criminal cases including TRP scam.

“Arnab Goswami is being interrogated by the investigating officer and the further course of action will be decided accordingly after the completion of interrogation and questioning,” Sanjay Mohite, IG Konkan Range said. The Mumbai police have yet not announced his arrest.

In 2018, an architect and his mother died by suicide over alleged non-payment of dues by Goswami’s Republic TV, to the tune of over Rs 4.30 crore, the official said.

Thought there are three more cases registered against Arnab Goswami but it is for the first time he has been brought to police station for interrogation.

In May this year, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said the state CID will re-investigate the case. The case was closed by the Raigad Police last year. Interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik were found dead at their bungalow in Alibaug in May 2018. Naik’s daughter Adnya claimed non-payment of dues by Republic TV had driven her father and grandmother to suicide.

The police had found a suicide not written in English that said he and his mother decided to take the extreme step on account of payments due to them not being cleared by the owners of three companies – television journalist Arnab Goswami of Republic TV, Feroz Shaikh of IcastX/Skimedia and Niteish Sarda of Smartworks. The three firms owed Naik’s company, Concorde Designs Pvt Ltd, Rs 83 lakh, Rs 4 crore and Rs 55 lakh respectively, the note added.

While the Home Department had transferred the case to CID in May this year, officers outside Arnab’s residence said that the very court where the Raigad police had filed a closure report has given fresh permission to Raigad police to reopen and reinvestigate the case.

Republic TV had refuted the allegations by saying that it paid back the said money and had then said that certain vested interest groups are running a false and malicious campaign and making false statements and innuendos against the channel by exploiting a tragic event involving Naik’s demise.

In a statement, the Editors Guild of India said it is “shocked to learn about the arrest of Arnab Goswami” in the early hours of Wednesday. “We condemn the sudden arrest and find it extremely distressing. The Guild calls upon the Chief Minister of Maharashtra to ensure that Goswami is treated fairly and state power is not used against critical reporting by the media.”

Union Minister for Information and Broadcast Prakash Javadekar said the incident is a reminder of the “emergency days.” “We condemn the attack on press freedom in Maharashtra. This is not the way to treat the Press. This reminds us of the emergency days when the press was treated like this,” he tweeted.

Last week, the Mumbai Police had booked the executive editor, an anchor, two reporters, and other editorial staff of Republic Media Network for broadcasting alleged defamatory news content against the police department. Police said Republic channel aired the news that would incite disaffection among police personnel against Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh. The channel, police said, claimed Mumbai police personnel were rebelling against Param Bir Singh, and that his orders were not acceptable to them.

This is the fourth case against Republic channel. Arnab Goswami is facing two FIRs, registered at Pydhonie and NM Joshi Marg police stations, for allegedly inciting communal tension. A case relating to alleged fudging of TRPs is being probed by the Mumbai Crime Branch while chapter proceedings against Goswami have been initiated separately by police. Other than Republic TV, the  TRP fraud case has been registered against nine TV Channels and eleven arrests have been made.