The sessions court at Alibaug in Maharashtra's Raigad district will hear on November 9 the police's revision plea challenging the magistrate's order of remanding Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami to judicial custody in a 2018 abetment of suicide case.
The district sessions court at Alibaug passed the order on Saturday after it was informed that the Bombay High Court is presently hearing petitions filed by Goswami and two other accused in the case - Feroze Shaikh and Nitesh Sarda - seeking interim bail and challenging their "illegal arrest".
The police had in its application sought the sessions court to quash the lower court's order and grant them custody of the three accused. Goswami was arrested on Wednesday morning from his Lower Parel residence in Mumbai for allegedly abetting the suicide of 53-year-old interior designer Anvay Naik. He was taken to the Alibaug police station and later produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Sunaina Pingle.
Passing the order late on Wednesday night, the magistrate refused to remand the trio to police custody and sent them to judicial custody till November 18. The Alibaug police had sought 14 days' custody of Goswami for interrogation.
Goswami is presently kept at a local school, which has been designated as a COVID-19 centre for the Alibaug prison.
In 2018, Anvay Naik and his mother Kumodini Naik had ended their lives over alleged non-payment of dues by the accused persons' companies. In a suicide note, the architect had named three persons - Republic TV's Arnab for defaulting on payment of Rs 83 lakh, Feroz Shaikh of IcastX/Skimedia for defaulting Rs 4 crore and Nitesh Sarda of Smartworks for not paying Rs 55 lakh. Based on a complaint by Akshata Naik, the Alibaug Police had registered the FIR in 2018 after her husband (Anvay) and mother-in-law (Kumud Naik) died by suicide on May 5 that year.
In May this year, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had announced that he has ordered a fresh probe in the case after a complaint by Adnya Naik, daughter of Anvay Naik.
(With PTI inputs)