Mumbai: The sessions court at Alibaug in Maharashtra's Raigad district will hear on November 9 the police's revision plea challenging the magistrate's order of judicial remand to Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami instead of his police custody in a 2018 abetment of suicide case.
The district sessions court at Alibaug passed the order on Saturday after it was informed that the Bombay High Court is presently hearing petitions filed by Goswami and two other accused in the case - Feroze Shaikh and Nitesh Sarda - seeking interim bail and challenging their "illegal arrest".
The police had in its application sought the sessions court to quash the lower court's order and grant them custody of the three accused.
Goswami was arrested on Wednesday morning from his Lower Parel residence in Mumbai for allegedly abetting the suicide of 53-year-old interior designer Anvay Naik. He was taken to the Alibaug police station and later produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Sunaina Pingle.
Passing the order late on Wednesday night, the magistrate refused to remand the trio to police custody and sent them to judicial custody till November 18.
The Alibaug police had sought 14 days' custody of Goswami for interrogation.
Goswami is presently kept at a local school, which has been designated as a COVID-19 centre for the Alibaug prison.
In 2018, Anvay Naik and his mother Kumodini Naik had ended their lives over alleged non-payment of dues by the accused persons' companies.
In May this year, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had announced that he has ordered a fresh probe in the case after a complaint by Adnya Naik, daughter of Anvay Naik.
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Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
