Arnab Goswami interrogated by Mumbai Police for 12 hours, ex-colleague Rajdeep Sardesai says it smacks of undue state power

Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami was questioned by Mumbai Police for over 12 hours on Monday. The Editors Guild, the Press Council and the broadcasting associations stayed away from issuing a statement on the matter. The lone voice that came in support of the Editor-in-Chief of Republic TV was of India Today TV’s Consulting Editor and Goswami’s primetime rival Rajdeep Sardesai.

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Sardesai took to Twitter to call out the marathon interrogation of Goswami by police.

Does the Mumbai police really need 10 hours to interrogate Arnab Goswami for a tv programme? Have no time left for his ‘journalism’ but this smacks of undue state power.

— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) April 27, 2020

Goswami was interrogated in connection with a case against him for allegedly defaming Congress President Sonia Gandhi during one of his debate shows last week.

On Friday, the Supreme Court had granted interim relief to the TV journalist and had said no coercive action should be taken against Goswami for the next three weeks.

The court, however, allowed the police to proceed with its investigation into one of the FIRs filed by Congress Minister Nitin Raut. Several other FIRs were filed by Congress workers across the country.

The Mumbai Police had served two notices to Goswami on Sunday, asking him to appear for questioning.

“The Mumbai Police has sent me two notices in the last 12 hours saying they want to immediately interrogate me regarding my comments on Sonia Gandhi. As a law-abiding citizen I will cooperate with the investigation," Goswami had said in a statement on Sunday.

Last week, during one of his shows on Republic TV, Goswami had accused Congress President Sonia Gandhi of orchestrating the Palghar lynching in Maharashtra. “Would Sonia Gandhi have been quiet if Muslim preachers or Christian saints had been killed instead of Hindu sants?” Goswami had asked on his show.

A day after the show, Goswami had alleged that he and his wife Samyabrata Ray were attacked by the youth Congress workers when they were returning home from work.

Both the Press Council of India and the Editors Guild had condemned the attack on Goswami.

However, no statement was issued by both the bodies on Goswami's 12-hour interrogation by Mumbai Police on Monday.

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