Mumbai: A deputy commissioner of police (DCP) in Mumbai on Wednesday filed a criminal defamation complaint against Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami over the coverage of the Sushant Singh Rajput death case.
DCP Abhishek Trimukhe’s complaint before a sessions court here also named ARG Outlier Media Private Limited which owns Republic Media Network, and Goswami’s wife as she is one of its directors.
“There were some tweets which misrepresented Trimukhe.
He had written about it to the Maharashtra government. The state home department gave its sanction (to file a complaint),” a senior police official said.
The complaint has been filed under Indian Penal Code sections 499, 500 (defamation) and 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory).
Goswami made “grossly false”, “malicious” and defamatory statements during the coverage of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death by suicide last year, it claimed.
These defamatory statements were telecast on the channel Republic Bharat during a discussion about phone records of actor Rhea Chakraborty, Rajput’s girlfriend, it said.
“The said defamatory attacks have been made with a singular view of assassinating his (Trimukhe’s) official character and thereby…maliciously and deliberately causing undue humiliation of the Mumbai Police Department,” the complaint said.
Goswami also tweeted the contents of the telecast to a larger audience, the complaint said.
When contacted, Goswami’s lawyer said they had not received any intimation about the court complaint yet.
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Mumbai police lost its credibility under Paramveer Singh as police commissioner for falsely implicating Rastrabaad Journalist Arnab Goswami. Whole world including Supreme Court of India condemned Mumbai police for their vindictive act.
Arnab Goswami’s credibility as a journalist has always been up for debate. However, the way Mumbai Police handled the investigation made it lose its credibility across the nation. Add to it the witch-hunt against Republic and Mr. Goswami and it becomes a laughing stock. Mr. Parambir Singh will forever be held responsible for damaging the credibility of a fine institution.