Mumbai. Editor-in-chief of Times Now, Arnab Goswami has been arrested straight from his television studio for leading anti-corruption protests against the government, which were threatening to snowball into a bigger spectacle than Anna’s protests at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi. Arnab was into his 127th hour of “indefinite anchoring” when he was arrested by the state police and sent into three weeks of judicial custody at the Arthur Road jail.
“Whenever we switched on the television to watch news, we saw him anchoring bulletins on Times Now; it was adding tension to the already edgy scenario,” Home Minister P Chidambaram justified the arrest, which he claimed was done under the provisions of the section 107 & 151 of the CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code).
Arnab Goswami apparently asked at least thirteen direct questions to the police officers who came to arrest him, and later repeated those to the officials present at the Arthur Road Jail.
Arnab was arrested just before he was to step into his The Newshour studio, where around a dozen guests were scheduled to discuss the Jan Lokpal impasse with him. Arnab had already declared the Prime Minister’s letter to Anna Hazare as “smokescreen”, which many people believe became the reason for his arrest.
“Not at all! We respect freedom of speech of our citizens. He was not arrested for opposing the government,” Chidambaram denied the rumours, “It was a routine decision to maintain law and order in the country.”
Chidambaram further claimed that the government was also worried about the health of Arnab, which could have deteriorated had he not stopped his indefinite anchoring.
“He clearly was skipping lunch and dinner to anchor television debates. How else can he be on-air all the time? Any doctor can vouch that such practice will have negative impact on the health of a person,” Chidambaram claimed.
Although Chidambaram took full responsibility of the latest arrest and didn’t blame it on the state police as he had done in the case of Anna Hazare’s arrest earlier, sources tell Faking News that the orders for arresting Arnab Goswami came directly from the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office).
“Prime Minister was mighty worried about the health of Arnab. After Sonia Gandhi and Anna Hazare, he can’t afford to take care of wellbeing of a third person. He is feeling like a nurse nowadays,” a PMO source revealed.
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