The District and Sessions court on Tuesday heard the concluding arguments on the revision application filed by the Local Crime Branch seeking police custody of Arnab Goswami and two others in an abetment of suicide case. The order will be passed on November 12.
Judge R.G. Malshetti concluded a day-long hearing where advocates for the accused (Mr. Goswami, Firoz Shaikh and Nitiesh Sarda) argued through video conferencing, and Special Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat argued in person.
Arguing for police custody of the accused, Mr. Gharat said the suicide note mentioned the names of the accused and the amount due from them. The case diary has the panchanama and mentioned everything, and therefore custodial interrogation was necessary.
He also said accused number 1 (Mr. Arnab Goswami) is an influential person, and a political party was supporting the accused.
He relied upon judgments from the Supreme Court and the High Court, and said just as the accused have rights, the aggrieved also have rights and the police also has rights.
In the first half of the day, senior advocate Aabad Ponda representing Mr. Goswami said there was a contractual dispute with Anvay Naik as the work done by him was not satisfactory. We have paid 90% of the amount and 10% of the amount was kept on hold, Mr. Ponda said.
He argued, “This matter is of contractual dispute which should be decided in a civil court not in a criminal court. If people start committing suicide in a contractual dispute, there will be many suicide cases.”
Mr. Ponda went on to say, “I am a news anchor and may have said things I shouldn’t say, but this is not the way to silence me. How it can be abetment to suicide when, in my mind, it is a contractual dispute?”
He also said there was no need to arrest Mr. Goswami as he was not absconding and available for questioning.
Complainant Adnya, who is Anvay Naik’s daughter, and her mother Akshata, were present in court.
