Published 11:09 IST, November 10th 2020
'What is going on!!', netizens furious as Republic's AVP Ghanshyam arrested after Arnab
Netizens were furious as Republic's AVP Ghanshyam was arrested on Tuesday daysa after Arnab Goswami was arrested. They termed it as 'Blatant dictatorship'.
Amid the illegal arrest and harassment of Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, the Mumbai Police has continued the witch-hunt against his Republic Media Network. In the latest, the Mumbai Police now arrested Republic Distribution Assistant Vice President Ghanshyam on Tuesday. The news further angered the already irate netizens, who have been raising pleas for the release of Arnab Goswami for six days now.
Netizens furious over arrest of Republic’s AVP
On Tuesday, the Mumbai Police crime branch detained Republic’s AVP Ghanshyam in the fake TRP scam. The development came as another instance of Mumbai Police’s witch-hunt because like Arnab Goswami, Ghanshyam too had co-operated with the authorities. He had responded to all the summons, and had been questioned for over 40 hours in separate sessions of interrogation.
Netizens wrote that the move was 'shameful', asking what was going on and that it was going out of limits. They, however, expressed confidence that Republic will emerge victorious from this witchhunt.
Republic TV has asserted with all evidences that it is nowhere linked to the TRP scam, in which the registered FIR did not mention the network. The Mumbai Police giving a clean chit to another channel in the FIR showcased that the Mumbai Police had taken out its vendetta to target Republic over its reporting in the Palghar mob lynching and Sushant Singh Rajput cases. Even Hansa Research, the company that manages the television ratings and the one that had filed the FIR, told the Bombay High Court recently that they were being pressurised by Mumbai Police to implicate Republic.
Mumbai Police's witch-hunt against Republic
Apart from the fake TRP case, the Mumbai Police has also filled a British-era Section 3(1) case on Republic for which many of its editors were questioned for hours. A Section 91 to submit the smallest expenses like cost of tissue papers in offices was among the shocking actions by Mumbai Police.
Meanwhile, Arnab Goswami continued to be in custody for what is now the seventh day after his illegal arrest on Wednesday. The Bombay High Court denied him interim bail on Monday, and suggested that he approaches the Sessions Court, that is required to pronouce the order in four days. Arnab Goswami revealed that he was assaulted and that his life was his danger, as the Raigad Police took him to the Taloja Jail, amid his 14-day judicial custody.
Updated 11:19 IST, November 10th 2020