Controversial TV news anchor Arnab Goswami, known for inflammatory right-wing rhetoric, was arrested yesterday in Mumbai in connection with the suicide of a designer who worked on his channel’s offices, prompting outrage from the Bharatiya Janata Party and its ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
The arrest of Goswami, a popular but polarising figure in the country’s competitive news market, was broadcast live on Republic TV, the channel he co-founded.
The channel showed footage of more than a dozen police officers entering Goswami’s house and taking him away in a van.
Republic, in the statement, said Goswami and his son were physically assaulted by the police and access to his legal team was denied.
A spokesperson for Mumbai police said the arrests were carried out by officers from Alibaug in the neighbouring Raigad district.
Republic TV has been accused in the past of illegally rigging ratings by bribing people to watch the channel.
Mumbai police official Sudhir Anandrao Taware said that Goswami’s arrest was in connection with a suicide case from 2018.
Media said it concerned the death of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik on May 5, 2018 in Raigad.
Naik had worked on a project for Goswami before apparently taking his own life. Reports said a suicide note blamed Goswami and two others for not paying fees of Rs54mn.
Goswami’s arrest in Maharashtra state, which is ruled by a coalition of Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress opposed to the BJP, triggered outrage among government ministers.
Goswami is a vociferous supporter of the BJP.
“The arrest of Arnab Goswami is an attack on the freedom of the press,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Twitter.
“This is not the way to treat the press,” Information Minister Prakash Javadekar tweeted.
The BJP, however, has long been accused of harassing the media, and journalists have been arrested and jailed in several states ruled by the party.
Scores of BJP supporters protested against Goswami’s arrest in Mumbai, carrying placards emblazoned with the slogan #EmergencyInMaharashtra.
The Editors Guild of India also condemned Goswami’s “sudden arrest” in a statement and called on Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to ensure he was “treated fairly and state power is not used against critical reporting by the media.”
However, Shiv Sena leader and Transport Minister Anil Parab said the BJP was worried as “their pet parrot, in whom many lives are trapped, is now in the cage,” while party MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut said that “if anybody has committed a crime, he would be punished”.
Targeting the BJP, Parab sought to know whether Goswami was “their party member” and asked why the BJP leaders did not protest when another journalist and former head of Tehelka news Tarun Tejpal was arrested a few years ago.
Police in April registered a case against Goswami for inciting religious discord after he criticised opposition leader Sonia Gandhi during a show.
Goswami’s most recent drumbeat has been the suicide of Bollywood star Sushant Singh Rajput.
The anchor has suggested Rajput’s girlfriend – actress Rhea Chakraborty – drove him to his death with a combination of black magic and drugs.
The tabloid-style campaign has been widely criticised by more measured media organisations and analysts.