SC Grants Interim Bail To Republic TV's Arnab Goswami, 2 Others In Abetment Of Suicide Case

Supreme Court granted interim bail to two others -- Nitish Sarda and Parveen Rajesh Singh -- on personal bond of Rs 50,000 each.

(File Photo/ Getty)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami and two other accused in the 2018 case of alleged abetment of suicide of an interior designer. According to reports, a vacation bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee also granted interim bail to two others -- Nitish Sarda and Parveen Rajesh Singh -- on personal bond of Rs 50,000 each. The bench said their release should not be delayed and the prison authorities should facilitate this. The top court directed that Goswami, Sarda and Singh shall not tamper with evidence and cooperate in the probe in the case. Goswami, Editor-in-Chief of Republic TV, had challenged the Bombay High Court's November 9 order refusing to grant him and two others interim bail in the case and asking them to move the trial court for relief. The accused were arrested by Alibaug police in Maharashtra's Raigad district on November 4 in connection with the suicide of architect-interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother in 2018 over alleged non-payment of dues to them by the companies of the accused. Naik's widow Akshata Naik and their daughter Adnya Naik, have filed a separate plea seeking a reinvestigation into the case or transferring it to an independent agency for probe. Goswami's team has already filed its bail plea before the Alibaug court on Monday - a day after he was shifted from a school there to the Taloja Central Jail on November 8. In a related development, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had called up Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and expressed concerns over the security and health of Goswami. Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis urged the Bombay High Court "to take suo moto cognizance" of the way in which Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra has "treated Goswami during the entire process of arrest to handling under custody, as alleged by him".