Arnab Goswami In 2018 Suicide Case: Arnab Goswami was arrested from his Mumbai home last week. (File)
Republic TV's Arnab Goswami's petition for interim bail in a 2018 abetment to suicide case is being heard by the Supreme Court. The top court is hearing the petition two days after the Bombay High Court turned down his plea against his arrest and the reopening of the case. Mr Goswami, who was arrested last week from his Mumbai home, had told the High Court his arrest and the reopening of investigation in the two-year-old case "illegal"; he was told he can go to a lower court to seek bail.
The top court, which is on a Diwali break, is having a special sitting to hear the case. A two-judge bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee are hearing the case through video conferencing.
Dushant Dave, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, in a letter to the Secretary General of the top court opposed "special treatment" given to Mr Goswami while "other litigants are waiting".
Mr Goswami's wife countered Dushyant Dave's allegations by writing a letter to the secretary general, citing some cases which had been listed and heard even on a Sunday.
Mr Goswami 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.
On Monday, a two-member bench of the Bombay High Court said that "no case was made out in the present matter for the high court to exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction." In its order, the High Court also said that the reopening of investigation by the state police "cannot be said to be irregular or illegal by any stretch of imagination."
Ahead of the hearing in the Bombay High Court, the Republic TV promoter had moved the sessions court for bail. The High Court said the lower court must take a decision within four days.
Mr Goswami's lawyers - Harish Salve and Abad Ponda - argued in the high court that the police have not met the legal requirement of getting a court's consent for reopening the case, which led to his arrest.
The case was closed earlier when the BJP was in power in Maharashtra after the police told a court that there was no evidence to proceed against the accused and prosecute them.
Mr Naik's family appealed to the government saying the probe had been scuttled and the government ordered a re-examination of the case.