MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government would seek legal and expert opinion on whether Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami could be booked under the Official Secrets Act for disclosing sensitive information on Balakot strike three days before it took place. The government’s decision follows the surfacing of a purported WhatsApp chat between ex-CEO of BARC and Arnab Goswami.
Maharashtra Home minister Anil Deshmukh said that they have taken a serious note of Arnab Goswami’s chat.
“We have decided to seek legal and expert opinion on whether Arnab Goswami can be booked and arrested under the Official Secrets Act for allegedly sharing classified military information. We cannot comprise on national security. We have to find out with who else he has shared the information. Besides, we need to trace the source of this crucial information, and whether it was limited to Arnab and Partho Dasgupta,” Deshmukh said.
Deshmukh said that the chats came into notice during the Mumbai police’s probe into the alleged TRP scam.