Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday requested the Maharashtra government to arrange ‘adequate security arrangements’ for arrested Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami.
Sonowal tweeted on Wednesday afternoon and said he spoke to Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and requested him to arrange security for the arrested Republic TV editor.
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Arnab Goswami was arrested on November 4 in connection with the 2018 suicide abetment case of designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud.
The designer, in a suicide note, had alleged non-payment of dues by firms of the accused. He has been remanded to judicial custody till November 18.
After arrest, Arnab Goswami was initially kept in a school which was designated as a Covid-19 quarantine centre for the Alibaug prison.
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But on Sunday Arnab Goswami was shifted to the Taloja jail in Raigad district after he was found using a mobile phone.
Arnab Goswami is from Assam, and his father was a member of the BJP, and had contested elections as well.
Sonowal described Arnab Goswami as a ‘renowned journalist’, and requested Uddhav Thackeray to arrange ‘adequate security arrangements’ for him in Taloja jail.
Talked to Maharashtra CM Shri Uddhav Thackeray ji and requested him for adequate security arrangements for renowned journalist Arnab Goswami. I talked to him as Mr. Goswami’s family members approached me and intimated that there is not enough security provided to him. @OfficeofUT
— Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) November 11, 2020
While being transferred to Taloja jail, Arnab Goswami on Sunday had pleaded with folded hands from the prison van to bail him out of the crisis.
The arrested editor of Republic TV had repeatedly said that his life was in danger, and the Supreme Court should bail him out.
Sonowal said he spoke to Uddhav Thackeray after Arnab Goswami’s family members approached him for help.
Arnab Goswami’s maternal uncle, Siddhartha Bhattacharyya is a senior BJP leader, and is a cabinet minister in Sarbananda Sonowal’s government.
Though Arnab Goswami hails from Assam, the arrest failed to evoke any major protest in the state. In general, people were not happy with his un-journalistic tantrums during talk shows in the Republic TV studios.