Charge-sheet filed against Arnab Goswami in 2018 suicide case

The police on Friday filed a charge sheet against Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and two others in a 2018 abetment of suicide case.

The charge sheet was filed before a court in Alibaug in neighbouring Raigad district, where the case for alleged abetment of suicide of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud has been registered.

Besides Goswami, the other two accused named in the charge sheet are Firoze Sheikh and Nitish Sarda, said special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat.

The trio has been charged under Indian Penal Code sections 306 (abetment to suicide), 109 (punishment for abetment)and 34 (act done by several people in furtherance of common intention).

As many as 65 persons are named as witnesses in the charge sheet that runs into 1,914 pages.

Prosecution sources said that it relies on purported suicide note as the 'dying declaration'.

Naik's handwriting has been matched with the writing in the suicide note and forensic report indicated that he was not under pressure while writing it, sources added.

Six statements recorded before a magistrate under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure are also part of the charge sheet. Such statements can be used as evidence during trial.

Incidentally, Goswami had moved the Bombay high court on Thursday seeking a stay to the filing of charge sheet, but the petition is yet to be heard.

Goswami, Sheikh and Sarda were arrested by Alibaug police on November 4 in the case, but they got bail from the Supreme Court on November 11.

Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud committed suicide in 2018, allegedly because of non-payment of dues by firms of Goswami and other two accused.

The case, closed for want of evidence in 2019, was reopened in May this year, with Goswami alleging that the Maharashtra government was pursuing a vendetta against him for his work as a TV journalist.