Indian police arrest firebrand news anchor Arnab Goswami

MUMBAI: Police early Wednesday arrested firebrand television news anchor Arnab Goswami on charges of abetment to suicide of two people.

A police team arrested Republic TV founder Goswami from his residence in Mumbai’s Worli neighborhood. The case pertains to the deaths by suicide of 53-year-old interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother in 2018.

Defending the arrest of Goswami, Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh said that no one was above the law.

High drama followed the arrest of the TV presenter when police reached his residence to arrest him. Goswami and his wife took almost an hour to open the door, a police official said.

“Arnab and his wife Samyabrata refused to open the door for nearly an hour despite us telling them that we have come to arrest him in the Alibaug case. We had deputed a policeman to video record the entire sequence of events to avoid any allegations,” a media report quoted a police officer as saying that.

When Arnab opened the door, his wife started video recording and alleged that the police assaulted him. His wife also tore the notice for intimation of the arrest.

India’s Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted, “Blatant misuse of state power against Republic TV and Arnab Goswami is an attack on individual freedom and the fourth pillar of democracy.” “This attack on free press must be and will be opposed.”

Railway Minister, Piyush Goyal, called his arrest a fascist move and a sign of undeclared emergency. “We must all stand up against this attack on India’s democracy,” Goyal tweeted.