The Maharashtra Congress on Tuesday demanded the arrest of Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, alleging that the WhatsApp chats between him and former CEO of BARC Partho Dasgupta amounts to treason. The State Home Department is seeking legal opinion as the issue was related to national security.
“How did Goswami get the information about the military action three days before the event, on February 23, 2020? He himself has said that the person who gave him this information is a big person in the Modi government. All of this needs to be investigated. The way Arnab Goswami acted amounts to violation of the Official Secrets Act, 1923,” said Congress general secretary Sachin Sawant, who led a party delegation to meet the State’s Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
He said the State government had the power to take action under the Act. “The Maharashtra government should arrest Arnab Goswami immediately,” demanded Mr. Sawant.
Mr. Deshmukh said the State government was aware of the leak of information that was important in terms of national security. “We will also take legal advice on this matter, as it is evident that they were privy to the plan related to national security. The State government will take further legal action after discussions with senior police officials,” he said.
“Mr Goswami and his Republic TV have committed a number of illegal acts,” said Mr. Sawant. “They have also caused a loss of crores of rupees to Prasar Bharati by illegally using Doordarshan’s satellite frequencies. Republic TV has committed a crime by using their frequencies without paying,” he said.
On Tuesday evening, a delegation of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) also met Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore demanding probe into the ‘conspiracy’ behind leaking secret information and using it to increase TRP, which resulted in financial gains through advertisements.
“When only a few select individuals in the government should have known about the government’s planned attack, how did Goswami know about it? This is an indication that information concerned with national security is being leaked. It needs to be probed thoroughly,” said the NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase.
