Arnab fails to get High Court relief, files bail plea in sessions court

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday declined to grant interim bail to Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami and two others, arrested in a case of abetment of suicide of an interior designer, prolonging their stay in jail in a matter that has generated wide public attention.

Before the HC ruling, which came in the afternoon, Goswami (47) on Monday morning filed a bail application in the Alibaug sessions court in the adjoining Raigad district, where the 2018 suicide abetment case has been registered, his lawyer Gaurav Parkar said.

A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and M S Karnik, while rejecting the interim bail pleas of Goswami and the two other accused Feroze Shaikh and Nitish Sarda said "no case has been made out for us (court) to exercise our extraordinary jurisdiction".

The HC said the accused had the remedy to approach a lower court in Raigad district, where the case has been filed, for regular bail.

With the high court refusing interim bail to Goswami, who was arrested on November 4 by the Alibaug police from his Mumbai residence, the news anchor's stay at Taloja Jail will get extended.

The sessions court is also hearing a revision application filed by the Alibaug police, challenging a November 4 order of a magistrate's court denying them custody of Goswami and the other accused, and remanding them to judicial custody till November 18.

The sessions court will continue hearing the revision application on Tuesday, special public prosecutor Pradip Gharat said.

Goswamis lawyer Parkar said after the revision plea is heard, the court will take up the bail plea for hearing.

"The court has issued notice to the police on the bail plea," he said.

On November 6, the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Alibaug allowed the police to question Goswami and the two other accused for three hours daily at the Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai.

Goswami and the two others were arrested in connection with the suicide of architect-interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother, residents of Alibaug, over alleged non-payment of dues by companies of the accused.