MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the Mumbai Police to give the advance notice of three days to Republic TV’s editor Arnab Goswami if it wanted to arrest him in the TRP scam case.
A bench of Justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale also dismissed the submission of state counsel Deepak Thakre that Goswami had to face the investigation and could not claim any special status.
The bench noted the police had been investigating the case for three months now and was yet to name Goswami as an accused in the case. The bench asked the police that complete the probe against Republic TV within 12 weeks. The order comes in the petition filed by ARG Outlier Media (holding company of Republic TV channels) challenging the criminal proceedings initiated against its channel and employees in the TRP scam case.
Goswami’s counsel Ashok Mundargi had argued that the criminal law in the country did not provide for the police to name someone merely as a suspect and not name him or her as an accused in the charge sheet. The HC will hear the matter on June 28.