Republic TV co-founder and anchor Arnab Goswami was on Monday interrogated for close to 12 hours in connection with the FIR registered against him earlier this month.
Mr. Goswami was booked by the Sadar Bazaar police in Nagpur for allegedly making inflammatory statements in a debate that he chaired on his channel following the lynching of two Hindu saints in Palghar. The FIR, on the Supreme Court's instructions, was transferred to the NM Joshi Marg police station, in whose jurisdiction he stays. The same police station is also investigating an alleged attack on him by two men, already arrested in the case, while he was on his way home from work with his wife Samyabrata last week.
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Mr. Goswami reached the police station for interrogation in the case at around 9.30 a.m.on Monday.
"We interrogated him as per procedure. He left around 9 p.m.," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone III) Abhinash Kumar said, adding that the details of the interrogation could not be revealed.
Meanwhile, the two accused arrested in connection with the alleged assault on him , Pratik Mishra and Arun Borade, were released on bail on Monday after their police custody expired. Officers said that they were released on a personal bond of ₹15,000 each. The police also recorded statements from police personnel assigned to Mr. Goswami as security guards, who were following his vehicle in their own on the night of the alleged incident.
Mr. Goswami had earlier alleged that he had conveyed to the police that the assailants had "confessed" to being Congress party workers, which was being "covered up" by the police.
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"The assailants were apprehended by Mr. Goswami's security guards and not him, and hence, it should be the security guards whose statements should reflect any information about the political affiliations of the accused and any confession that they might have given. Coming from them, it carries more weight and now that we have taken the same on record in their signed statements, we will verify it this aspect further," an officer with the NM Joshi Marg police station said.
