Arnab shifted to Taloja jail for using mobile phone in custody

Mumbai The Raigad police, on Sunday shifted Republic TV Managing Director and Chief Editor Arnab Goswami to the Taloja Central Jail in Maharashtra's Raigad district from an Alibaug school where he was temporarily kept.

After his arrest from his Lower Parel residence in Mumbai, Goswami was lodged in a school premises since November 4 which has been designated as a COVID-19 centre for the Alibaug prison. He has been remanded to judicial custody till November 18 by Alibaug Court Chief Judicial Magistrate Sunaina Pingle.

Meanwhile,The Raigad crime branch found Goswami was active on social media using somebody's mobile phone during the custody. The police had seized Goswami's personal mobile when he was taken into custody on November 4.

Goswami was moved to the Taloja jail after he was allegedly found using a mobile phone while in judicial custody at a local school designated as COVID-19 centre for Alibaug prison in Raigad district, a police official said.

While being escorted to Taloja jail, Goswami shouted from the police van, alleging that he was assaulted by Alibaug jailer on Saturday evening, his life was in danger and he was not allowed to speak to his lawyer.

Slamming the move to shift him, wife Samyabrata Ray Goswami claimed that her husband was "dragged and lugged by the Maharashtra Police in a blacked-out police van to Taloja Jail this morning".

She said that her husband repeatedly said his "life was under threat" and the jailer assaulted him after he demanded access to his lawyers, "which was shockingly denied".

"With Arnab (Goswami) publicly disclosing the threat to his life and the atrocities he is facing in custody, the law and order officers and the entire state and national machinery will be held responsible if any harm is inflicted upon my husband," warned Samyabrata in a statement.

Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party vice-president Kirit Somaiya rushed to the jail and demanded proper care and security for Goswami while he was kept there.

"The jailer assured me of no harassment to Goswami in jail and proper medical treatment if required will be provided," Somaiya later told mediapersons.

Goswami and two others- Feroze Shaikh and Nitish Sarda-were arrested by Alibaug police on November 4 in connection with the suicide of architect-interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik in Alibaug on May 5, 2018.

The Bombay High Court will on Monday pronounce its order on the interim bail application filed by Goswami and the two others in connection with the abetment of suicide case.

A notice issued late Saturday night on the high court's website said the bench would assemble at 3 pm on November 9 for pronouncement of the order.

In a suicide note, Naik had named Goswami and two others - Feroze Shaikh and Nitesh Sarda - who allegedly defaulted and failed to clear their dues of over Rs 5 crore for his professional services as agreed upon.

(With inputs from IANS and PTI)