Anushka Mansharamani
On 16th December, the judicial magistrate took cognisance of the filed charge sheet against Arnab Goswami, Republic TV anchor, and 2 others summoned in the Anvay Naik abetment to suicide case in 2018 by Raigad police.
Senior Advocate Abad Ponda, representing Arnab Goswami, brought this to the notice of the court.
While appearing in the petition filed by Arnab Goswami to restrain the magistrate from taking cognizance of the charge sheet, Abad Ponda enlightened the bench that he received a message that the magistrate had taken cognizance of the charge sheet.
After that Abad Ponda requested the court to allow the leave to amend the petition to bring the charge sheet on record.
Upon the request made, the bench consisting of Justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik permitted and instructed the magistrate to fasten the process to grant the copy of the documents.
The bench dismissed the case hearing till 6th January.
The charge sheet referred above was filed by the Raigad police on 4th December before a court in Alibaug against Arnab Goswami and two others by Anvay Naik (interior designer) and his mother Kumud.
They have been charged under Section 306, Section 34, and Section 109 of the Indian Penal Code.
Subsequent to that, Arnab Goswami filed a petition in the High Court asking the Court to direct the Magistrate to not take cognizance of the charge sheet filed.
The petition filed emphasized on the 27th November judgement passed by the Apex Court, which observed that the allegation in the First Information Report (FIR) filed failed to constitute the offence under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.
The bench responded to the argument made and observed that the Supreme Court judgement is based on the FIR and not the charge sheet and further stated that the judgement is binding on law and not on facts.
Justice Shinde, the presiding judge stated that the Supreme Court judgement has given clarity on the subject of bail and stated that as per the SC judgement, regular bail can be granted under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.
On this, Abad Ponda elucidated that they are not asking for the charge sheet to me automatically quashed but instead is asking the court to respect the judgement.
During this argument, Abad Ponda notified the judges about the cognizance taken by the Magistrate.
Arnab Goswami was arrested on 4th November in this case and on 11th November was released after the Supreme Court passed the order after the Bombay High Court had denied him interim bail.
There were 65 people named as witnesses in the charge sheet filed and the charge sheet filed was 1,914 pages long.
This charge sheet relies on the suicide note, which was matched with his writing and forensic report, which proves that he was under pressure while writing the suicide note.
The reason for suicide by Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud in 2018 was due to the non-payment of dues by Arnab Goswami’s firms.
This case was, however, closed in 2019 due to lack of conclusive evidence but was later reopened in May 2020 with Arnab Goswami claiming that the Maharashtra Government was pursuing a vendetta against him as he was a TV journalist.
