Arnab Goswami Withdraws Pre-Arrest Bail Plea Filed When Charged With Assault Of Woman Cop

Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-Chief of Republic TV, withdrew an anticipatory bail plea that he had filed last month on Thursday. He had applied for the plea in connection the Mumbai Police's charge against him for allegedly assaulting a woman officer during his arrest in November.

After his arrest on November 4  in connection with a suicide case, an FIR was filed against him for assaulting a woman officer during the process at his residence. The FIR was filed in  NM Joshi Marg police station in central Mumbai. Following this, an application for pre-arrest bail was submitted by his lawyer at Sessions Court in Mumbai.

His lawyer now confirms that the anticipatory bail plea has been removed as per Arnab Goswami's instruction. Goswami was booked under IPC sections 353 (assault to deter public servant from discharge of his duty),  506 (criminal intimidation) and under the Damage to Public Property Act, and 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace).

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Why was Arnab Goswami arrested?

On November 4, Goswami was arrested in connection with the 2018 case of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother's death by suicide. According to the charges, Arnab Goswami owed about Rs 83 lakhs to Anvay Naik. Non-payment of dues by Goswami and two other accused namely Feroz Shaikh and Niteish Sarda, that amounted to over five crore rupees, was alleged as the reason that prompted him and his mother to take this extreme step. Although official quotes from the Republic TV state that Goswami had cleared 93 per of debts before the interior designers decided to end his life.

In a public statement, Naik's daughter Adnya has said that the case was not about political vendetta, but about seeking justice for two members of the family. "Even now, when we see the emails written by my father to Arnab asking him to return dues of Rs 83 lakh, we start crying. He had mailed him a couple of times the month before his suicide and called it ‘ a matter of life and death’ in the mail, but there was no response,” said she.

After being arrested on November 4, Arnab Goswami was granted interim bail by Supreme Court on November 11.