Legal representatives for Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami have filed an interim application to stay the filing of a charge sheet by Raigad Police in the 2015 suicide abetment case of Anvay Naik.
Goswami was arrested in October and is currently out on bail. On November 27, the Supreme Court had declared that there was 'prima facie' evidence of Goswami's culpability in the suicide case.
"Should such a charge sheet be filed only with malicious intent to stifle the means of justice and legal remedy available to the Petitioner…" reads the application. "…More importantly pending the final hearing of the present Writ Petition, it would be nothing but travesty of justice."
The petition also claims that the order to reopen the suicide abetment case, given by Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, was a direct contravention of the Supreme Court's earlier directive.
Goswami's lawyers also requested a transfer of the case to the CBI or any other independent investigative agency that was not under the purview of the Maharashtra government.
The Mumbai police and Goswami's Republic channel have been embroiled in a tussle spanning several legal cases such as the TRP fraud scam, in which Republic TV has been named as an accused. Goswami is also accused of assaulting a female police officer during his arrest.
Republic TV and Goswami and have persistently insisted that the entire issue is the result of a "witch hunt" initiated by the government of Maharashtra and the police, as a kind of revenge for Republic TV's coverage of their alleged misconduct during the investigation into actor Sushant Singh Raput's death.