Mumbai Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Abhishek Trimukhe on Wednesday filed a criminal complaint against Republic TV editor-in-chief and owner Arnab Goswami and his wife Samyabrata before the City Civil and Sessions Court, alleging defamatory attacks in connection with the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
Mr. Trimukhe, DCP, Zone IX, has filed the complaint pursuant to the sanction granted by the Maharashtra Home Department as he is aggrieved by the defamatory attacks on him while he was discharging his official functions.
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He states, “The defamatory attacks have been made with a singular view of assassinating his official character and thereby maliciously and deliberately causing undue humiliation of the Mumbai Police Department.”
‘False statements’
The complaint says, “Mr Goswami has made grossly false, malicious and defamatory statements/averments, which have been telecast on his channel ‘Republic Bharat’ and thereby published on YouTube on August 7, 2020. The same purports to be a panel discussion pertaining to the phone records of Ms. Rhea Chakraborty, in connection to the death of Mr. Sushant Singh Rajput . However, far from being a discussion conscribed by journalistic ethos, the defamatory telecast has Mr. Goswami breaking into a tirade of defamatory statements against Mr. Trimukhe. He is convinced that the same was done with an intention to not just drag his name through the mud, but also to cast aspersions on the conduct of Mumbai Police as a whole in the context of the investigation into the death of Mr. Rajput, which is current underway.”
It further reads, “Mr Goswami very cunningly, used Ms. Chakraborty’s phone records to launch a systemic attack on the very institution of the Mumbai Police. Moreover, the sensationalistic approach of Mr. Goswami throughout the entirety of the defamatory telecast was unbecoming of a journalist and was done with the sole purpose of causing reputational damage to Mr. Trimukhe and the Mumbai Police”.
The 40-page complaint adds that Mr. Goswami, who has 1, 88,200 followers, has published several defamatory tweets and has essentially reiterated and recirculated contents of the defamatory telecast to an even larger audience by means of Twitter. The tweets are without context and have been wilfully circulated to damage Mr. Trimukhe’s reputation.
Mr. Trimukhe has urged the court for cognizance of offence to be taken under sections 500 (punishment for defamation) and 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory) of the Indian Penal Code and issue warrant against both the accused. He also seeks that compensation to be paid to him under section 357 (order to pay compensation) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
