Vindictive Param Bir Singh Deputes Right- Hand Man to Fille Chargesheet Against Arnab Goswami

Param Bir Singh leads charge against Arnab Goswami

Within hours of Arnab Goswami approaching the Bombay High Court with 2 razor-sharp petitions exposing the Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh’s role in the crafted conspiracy against him, Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh and the Maharashtra Police have filed a charge sheet against Republic Media Network’s Editor-in-Chief in the Anvay Naik suicide case. Shockingly, the filing of the charge sheet comes 8 days after the Honourable Supreme Court had said that prima facie no case had been made against Arnab Goswami in the case. The unchecked state-sponsored malice against Arnab is once against conclusively established and there is a complete breakdown of due process of law.

Evidence suggests state government's interference in the case

The Mumbai Police Commissioner’s right-hand man Pradeep Patil was rushed to Alibaug Court on Friday evening to file the charge sheet against Arnab Goswami-- 12 hours after his legal counsels submitted the elaborate evidence of the state government interference that has directed this case. Pradeep Patil was the same Param Bir man who assaulted Arnab Goswami in custody.

The charge sheet filing comes 7 days after Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had publicly declared that it would be filed, thereby making the collusion between the executive and the law and order machinery crystal clear. The political instructions directing the investigation has been established beyond doubt and now the entire case is malafide. 

The filing of a charge sheet seems to be a complete mockery of the Supreme Court and its sanctity as the highest court of the country. It is quickly becoming clear that blinded by vendetta the Maharashtra Government and Param Bir Singh are willing to go to any lengths to torment an innocent independent journalist - even to the extent to act in virtual contempt to the Apex Court of the nation. 

Chargesheet filed in defiance of Supreme Court's order

This move is a scathing indictment of the state of affairs in Maharashtra, where a charge sheet is filed in open defiance of the Supreme Court’s observations that noted that the basic ingredients of an offence were not even established by the FIR in the case. In fact, the Supreme Court had said,* “Prima facie, on the application of the test which has been laid down by this Court in a consistent line of authority which has been noted above, it cannot be said that the appellant was guilty of having abetted the suicide within the meaning of Section 306 of the IPC.”*  

This race to file a charge sheet comes within 12 hours of Arnab Goswami filing 2 applications citing how the Home Minister had made an open announcement about a “strong charge sheet” in the abetment to suicide case despite scathing observations by the Supreme Court to the contrary. The interim applications filed by Arnab lay down solid evidence to establish malice by the state machinery.  The charge sheet is nothing but a shallow attempt to play cat and mouse with the highest court which has already made it clear personal liberty cannot be targeted with misuse of criminal law.

Mr Goswami on Thursday had prayed for a stay on any further probe into the abatement of suicidee case registered against him. He also sought transfer of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or any other independent investigating agency outside the purview of Maharashtra government.