The Mumbai Police on Thursday arrested two persons in connection with the alleged attack on Republic TV co-founder Arnab Goswami, even as the Indian National Congress demanded FIR against Goswami for allegedly spreading “racial and social hatred” in the society.
Acting on a complaint lodged by Goswami with the NM Joshi Marg police station, the police arrested two persons — identified as Prateek Mishra and Raju Borade — in connection with the incident that took place in the small hours of Thursday. Both the arrested persons are in their early 30s.
The police said they were trying to ascertain the antecedents and political affiliations, if any, of the two arrested persons.
Several FIRs have also been filed across States against Arnab Goswami for his controversial comments on a recently aired programme on Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the backdrop of the Palghar lynching incident.
Goswami alleged the two persons, whom the Mumbai Police personnel had apprehended, had “confessed’ that they were from the Youth Congress. To substantiate his point, he said that “just three hours after the attack, Congress party leader Alka Lamba had tweeted “Youth Congress Zindabad”.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), which met on Thursday under the chairmanship of party’s AICC general secretary in-charge of State Mallikarjun Kharge condemned the Palghar lynching incident and termed it inhumane act.
“It is clear that a section of media is continuously trying to spread racial and religious hatred in society. Arnab Goswami of Republic TV, has tried to create misogyny against women in the society. He made an outrageous remark against Congress president Sonia Gandhi on a live TV programme. This is completely unethical journalism and we publicly protest it,” the MPCC statement said.
“We believe in brotherhood and cannot accept such animosity. This will be dangerous for the unity and integrity of the country. Therefore, we are jointly requesting Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to take action against Arnab Goswami and the Republic India news channel for disturbing the social environment,” the statement added.
Among the FIRs lodged included: the one registered in Sadar police station in Nagpur city of Maharashtra based on the complaint of Maharashtra’s Energy Minister and Congress leader Nitin Raut, while a second FIR was registered in Chhattisgarh’s capital city Raipur on the complaint of State Health Minister TS Singh Deo.
In Maharashtra, State Youth Congress president Satyajeet Tambe has filed a complaint against Goswami in Sangamner.
Several Congress leaders have slammed Goswami for his comments against Sonia Gandhi. “He has gone insane and crossed all limits, he should be ashamed of himself. I must ask the Editors Guild - isn’t this (an) all time low for journalism? Rajeev Chandrasekhar must sack him immediately (sic),” Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot tweeted.
In a related development, BJP president JP Nadda and his party’s other leaders on Thursday condemned the alleged attack on Goswami and slammed the Congress over the incident.
Senior BJP leader and Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar also condemned the incident. He said every attack on any journalist is condemnable as this is against democracy and sought action against the accused as per law.