The Raigad Police implicated Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami and two others in a 1,914-page chargesheet filed before the Alibaug Court in the abetment to suicide case of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik.
Naik, an interior decorator, had named Goswami, Feroz Shaikh of IcastX/Skimedia and Niteish Sarda of Smartworks as responsible for the suicide. He had worked for them and wrote in the suicide note that they had not paid him Rs 5.40 crore for the work.
The accused trio has been charged under IPC Sections 306 (abetment to suicide), 109 (punishment for abetment) and 34 (common intention). More than 50 persons were named as witnesses in the chargesheet.
According to the chargesheet, forensic reports showed that the suicide note by Naik was not written under pressure. The handwriting of Naik has also matched the writing in the suicide note. The police relies on Anvay Naik’s suicide note as a dying declaration.
“We have statements of several employees of Naik, bank statements and emails to prove that non-payment of money by the three accused drove him to kill himself,” said Inspector Jamil Shaikh, the Investigating Officer.
The chargesheet has been filed a day after Goswami had filed an application before the Bombay High Court seeking a stay on the filing of the same, and on any further probe into the case.
Goswami had also sought the transfer of the case to the CBI or any other independent investigating agency outside the purview of the Maharashtra government.