Alibag court allows cops to question Arnab Goswami in Taloja Jail for 3 hours daily

The Alibag Chief Judicial Magistrate's written permission to Crime Branch officials to interrogate Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami was granted in compliance with Maharashtra Prison Rules till the time he is able to obtain bail.

An Alibag court has granted permission to the police to interrogate Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami for 3 hours every day.

The police had sought permission from the Chief Judicial Magistrate to interrogate Arnab Goswami in the Taloja jail in connection with the Anvay Naik abetment to suicide case. 

According to reports, the written permission to interrogate was granted in compliance with Maharashtra Prison Rules till the time he is able to obtain bail.

The Sessions Court, meanwhile, adjourned till Tuesday the revision application by the local Crime Branch against the CJM, Alibag's order denying police custody of the journalist.

Arnab Goswami had moved the Sessions Court seeking regular bail after the Bombay High Court turned down his plea for interim bail in the case.

The High Court observed that "no case was made out in the present matter for the high court to exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction." 

In its order, the a two-member bench also said that the reopening of investigation by the state police 'cannot be said to be irregular or illegal by any stretch of imagination.'

Further setback awaited Arnab Goswami at the sessions court, which said that it would first hear the crime branch petition first and then take up hearing on the journalist's plea.

Arnab Goswami was arrested from his Mumbai residence on November 4 after the police claimed they had found new evidence in the 2018 suicide case. He was initially kept at a local school in Alibag, which had been turned into a quarantine centre for prisoners, but was moved to the Taloja Jail on Sunday.

The Republic TV editor-in-chief was arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide of 53-year-old interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother in 2018. Avnay Naik, an architect and interior designer who reportedly designed Republic TV's sets, named Arnab Goswami and two others in a suicide note in which he alleged that his dues were not paid by the channel.