Arnab Goswami, two others do not appear before Raigad court
Mumbai: TV journalist Arnab Goswami, an accused in abetment of suicide case, failed to appear before a court in Raigad district of Maharashtra on Thursday, prompting the prosecution to seek a warrant against him.
Alibaug Police had arrested Goswami and two others in the case related to interior designer Anvay Naik's alleged suicide in November 2020. They were later granted bail by the Supreme Court.
On Thursday, as the case came up before Alibaug sessions court, Goswami's lawyer sought exemption from appearance. The court granted an exemption for the day.
The other two accused -- Firoze Sheikh and Nitish Sarda -- also did not appear.
Special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat took a strong exception, saying the accused should have been present for the purpose of identification as this was the first hearing after the court took cognizance of the charge sheet.
He also sought the issuance of warrants against Goswami and the other two.
While keeping Gharat's plea pending, the court noted that as restrictions on account of coronavirus are in place till January 31, no coercive action can be taken.
The court posted the matter for hearing on February 6.
On that date, the accused will need to appear in person or through video conference, the prosecutor told PTI.
After taking cognizance of the police's charge sheet, the court had asked all the accused to appear on January 7.
The trio is facing a case under IPC sections 306 (abetment to suicide) and 109 (punishment for abetment).
The charge sheet claims that Naik killed his mother, a partner in his business, and hanged himself at their Alibaug house in May 2018 as he was under stress due to non-payment of dues by the firms of the three accused.
Goswami, editor-in-chief of Republic TV, alleged that the police reopened a case that had been closed in 2019 as the state government wanted to harass him.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
