Mumbai police grills Arnab Goswami over his provocative comments'

Mumbai: Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami on Wednesday appeared before Mumbai police after being summoned in a case about alleged provocative comments. Alleging political vendetta and deliberate obstruction to his media duty by Mumbai police, Goswami said that Republic TVs Chief Financial Officer (CFO) S Sundaram was interrogated first by the police for over six hours and he was waiting for more than three hours at the police station for his turn to come.

Goswami reached the NM Joshi Marg police station around 2 pm and was grilled for nearly two hours by police officials. Speaking outside the police station, Goswami said, “The truth is on my side. We will win. I have placed facts before the Mumbai police. They said they may call me for questioning again.”

Two FIRs have been filed against the editor-in-chief accusing him of making provocative comments about a community during a news show about migrant workers gathering in large numbers outside the Bandra railway terminus during lockdown. “When I started proving to them that the entire case against me is fabricated, adding that the video clip (of the show) was edited and put out of context, the investigating officer said they will call me (for questioning) later,” Goswami said.

He further added, “This is clear and blatant political vendetta. The Vadra Congress is blatantly misusing the Mumbai police. But like always, they will fail. I stand by every minute of our Palghar and Bandra migrants’ protest coverage. The New media in a new India is becoming stronger. It is time for the Lutyens brigade to introspect.”

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to grant Goswami exemption from appearance before the police in the case and asked him to appear before the cops on Wednesday.

Police had summoned Goswami for interrogation in connection with a complaint filed against him for allegedly creating communal disturbance through his TV show aired on April 29.