In May 2018, interior designer Anvay Naik, along with his mother Kumud Naik, were found dead at their bungalow in Alibaug.
Republic TV founder and editor in chief, Arnab Goswami was arrested by Maharashtra Police in the early hours of Wednesday. The arrest was made in relation to the 2018 case of abetment of suicide. Interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik had died by suicide over alleged non-payment of dues by Goswami’s Republic TV, a police official said.
In May 2018, interior designer Anvay Naik, along with his mother Kumud Naik, were found dead at their bungalow in Alibaug. According to the police, Anvay had died by suicide, whereas the post mortem report of Kumud indicated that she had been strangulated and did not commit suicide.
Anvay had killed her before committing suicide, the police believe. The police, following that, had registered an accidental death report and a case of murder.
The police had found a suicide note written in English in which Anvay said he and his mother decided to take the extreme step on account of payments due to them not being cleared by the owners of three companies – television journalist Arnab Goswami of Republic TV, Feroz Shaikh of IcastX/Skimedia and Niteish Sarda of Smartworks, the Indian Express reported.
The note also added that the three firms owed Rs 83 lakh, Rs 4 crore and Rs 55 lakh respectively to Naik’s company Concorde Designs Pvt Ltd. During the investigation they found that Anvay was in heavy debt and was struggling to repay money to contractors, an officer said.
The Raigad police also found out that Anvay Naik had registered an NC against a contractor in Mumbai after the latter had threatened him to repay the money he had taken. However, Mr Goswami had denied this charge and said that he had made the payments.
Saying that they did not find evidence against the accused named in the suicide note, including Goswami, the local Raigad police that has been investigating the case closed the case in April 2019.
Anvay’s daughter, however, approached the Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in May this year, seeking the case be reopened. Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had tweeted in May, “Adnya Naik had complained to me that Alibaug Police had not investigated non-payment of dues from Arnab Goswami’s Republic which drove her entrepreneur father and grandma to suicide in May 2018. I’ve ordered a CID re-investigation of the case.”
The police had not investigated the angle of Rs 83 lakh that Goswami had not paid her father that drove him to commit suicide, Adnya had alleged.
Officers outside Arnab’s residence Wednesday said the very court where the Raigad police had filed a closure report had given permission to Raigad police to reopen the case now, reported the Indian Express.
The Maharashtra police will now question the Republic TV’s editor-in-chief and ask him to provide evidence to back his claims that he had made the payments due to Anvay. Depending on the investigation they will decide to either close the case or chargesheet him.
Note:
HW News maintains that coping skills, support, and treatment are proven to be helpful to people who’ve thought of suicide.
Everyone deserves a second chance at life and so do you. Here are some helpline numbers if you are having similar thoughts. Talk it out.
Mumbai: The Samaritans, Mumbai- +91 84229 84528 / +91 84229 84529 / +91 84229 84530
India: AASRA- +91-9820466726
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