On Wednesday, Republic TV's Arnab Goswami was arrested in connection with the suicides of an architect & his mother in 2018, a case that was reopened recently on the family's request.

The Goswami has been charged with abetment of suicide. Anvay Naik, a 53-year-old architect & interior designer, had named Mr Goswami in a suicide note & had accused Republic TV of not paying him his dues after he designed the channel's interiors.

The Police closed the case 2 years ago, allegedly under pressure. 2 others named in the note, Feroz & Nitesh Sharda, were also arrested.

Mr Goswami alleged that he was manhandled & assaulted by the police at his Mumbai home before being pushed into their van, a charge that the cops denied.

A thirteen-minute video shot during the arrest shows policemen pleading with the editor to cooperate as he says he has been assaulted.

Eventually, the Policemen drag him away.

The news agency quoted Mr Goswami as saying that Mumbai Police "physically assaulted his mother-in-law & father-in-law, son & wife".

However, the Police charged him with assaulting a woman officer. The Republic promoter & Editor-in-Chief was sent to fourteen days of judicial custody later by a Court that rejected his allegation of assault by Cops.

In May, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had announced that the suicide was being reinvestigated after a fresh complaint by Adnya Naik, the architect's daughter.

"Arnab kept saying arrests should be made in the Sushant Singh Rajput suicide case where there was no suicide note. My husband left behind a suicide note naming Arnab & two others but no arrests were made. How is this fair," Anvay Naik's wife Akshata said to reporters.

"There were three names in the suicide note. My father spent money, energy & sweat blood on the project. Arnab Goswami ensured my husband did not get his dues. My dad mentioned ₹ 83 lakhs as dues in his suicide note," said her daughter Adnya.

The family alleged that they had been threatened & warned against going to the police. They also said the case was closed two years ago - when a BJP-led government was in power - as Mr Goswami used his influence to pressure the police. 

Several BJP leaders & Union Ministers condemned Mr Goswami's arrest as a reminder of the Emergency.

"Congress & its allies have shamed democracy once again. Blatant misuse of state power against Republic TV & Arnab Goswami is an attack on individual freedom & the 4th pillar of democracy. It reminds us of the Emergency. This attack on free press must be & WILL BE OPPOSED," tweeted Home Minister Amit Shah as reports emerged of Arnab Goswami's arrest.

"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," posted Information & Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar.

Republic TV said in a statement: "Arnab Goswami's arrest has been made part of a larger vindictive exercise against an independent journalist & news network," said Republic TV  in a statement.

The arrest comes in the middle of Mr Goswami's row with the Mumbai Police over its investigations into a ratings scam & allegations that Republic TV is among three channels involved in manipulating TRPs or Television Rating Points by bribing households metred for viewership. The editor had accused the police of harassing his colleagues & pursuing a vendetta over his channel's criticism of Mumbai Police's handling of the Sushant Singh Rajput case.

Maharashtra's ruling Shiv Sena refused that the arrest was a vindictive move.

Senior Sena leader Sanjay Rau said that "The law is followed in Maharashtra. Police can take action if they have evidence against anyone. Since the formation of the Uddhav Thackeray government, no action has been taken against anyone for revenge".

The Congress, a partner in the state's ruling coalition, accused the BJP of "selective outrage" & not reacting to instances of journalists slapped with sedition cases for stories critical of the Govt.

Several media bodies & editors condemned the arrest while asserting that they did not endorse Mr Goswami's brand of journalism.

The Editors' Guild of India expressed shock. "We condemn the sudden arrest & find it extremely distressing. The guild calls upon Maharashtra to ensure that Goswami is treated fairly & state power is not used against critical reporting by the media," the top media body said in a statement.

"The NBA is dismayed in the manner in which he was arrested. Even though NBA does not agree with his type of journalism, we denounce retaliatory action, if any by the authorities against a media editor,"  said News Broadcasters Association (NBA) in a statement.

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Picture Source : <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arnab_Goswami_WikiConference.jpg">Debastein</a>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons