Arnab Goswami | Photo Credit: BCCL

Mumbai: Arnab Goswami, editor-in-chief and managing director of Republic TV, has been booked under charges of abetment to suicide after an interior decorator allegedly killed himself over non-payment of dues owed to him by the news channel. Goswami, and two others, are facing charges under Section 306 (abetting suicide) of the Indian Penal Code after police lodged a case on the basis of a complaint filed by the interior decorator’s wife.

The deceased, Anvay Naik, committed suicide at his bungalow in Raigad district, close to Mumbai. According to the police, Naik had left behind a suicide note naming three people – Goswami, Feroz Shaikh of IcastX and Nitesh Sarda of Smartworks. Naik’s wife, 48-year-old Akshata Naik, has told the cops that her husband was under financial stress after his dues were not paid by Republic TV. Naik was contracted to carry out interior designing work for the channel in 2016.

As per the suicide note, Republic TV owes Rs 83 lakhs to Naik, while IcastX owed the deceased dues over Rs 400 lakhs and Nitesh Sarda of Smartworks owed Rs 55 lakhs to him. The wife of the deceased has also alleged that she had previously called the office of Goswami’s accountant, asking for the repayment of the said amount.

According to the FIR, the wife claimed that while she and her daughter were on their way to the Alibaug bungalow when a friend of her late husband called her to inform her that he had committed suicide. While her husband’s body was found on the first floor of the building, the deceased’s mother was also found dead on the ground floor of the house, the FIR stated. However, the cause of death of Naik’s mother is yet to be ascertained, reports said.

Meanwhile, Republic TV issued a statement last night, dismissing all allegations and called it a “false and malicious campaign” being run by “vested interest groups” against the channel. The channel admitted that it had contracted Naik to carry out work for its office, it denied that it owed him any money. They further claimed that Republic TV had details of cheques to prove that the payment had already been made. The statement read, “All due amounts payable under the contract have been paid.”

