Arnab Goswami shifted to Tajola Jail from Alibaug as he was found ‘using mobile phone’

Nov. 9: Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami was shifted from from a makeshift quarantine centre-turned-jail in Alibaug on Sunday to Tajola Jail. Goswami was supposed to be moved to Alibag jail after he would have finished his quarantine period in the Covid-19 facility. But the decision to shift him to another jail was prompted after Goswami was allegedly found using someone’s mobile phone in the quarantine centre.

As per reports, the Raigad crime branch found Goswami was active on the social media using somebody’s mobile phone despite his personal mobile phone having been seized by the police when he was taken into custody on 4 November.

Meanwhile, a two-judge division bench of the Bombay High Court will on Monday pronounce its order on a bail plea filed by Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami. Infact, the bench had been hearing Goswami’s plea for three days, including Saturday, after he filed an interim bail plea there, calling his November 4 arrest “illegal”. Goswami, along with two other accused in the case – Firoz Shaikh and Neetish Sarda – was, on the day of his arrest, sent to 14-day judicial custody by chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Alibaug, rejecting Maharashtra Police’s plea for police custody.

“I had requested them please let me talk (to my lawyers). But they denied. I am telling everyone my life is at stake. They tried to shift me at night only. Today morning they have dragged me. Everybody is seeing what is happening to me,” alleged Arnab Goswami.

Goswami is one of three accused in the case of abetment of suicide of an interior designer, Anvay Naik, and his mother, Kumud. In a suicide note, Naik had accused Goswami, Shaikh and Sarda of non-payment of dues amounting to Rs 5.4 crore, because of which, Naik wrote, he was being forced to take such a step.