MUMBAI: Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, arrested in an abetment of suicide case on November 4, failed to get any immediate relief on Saturday as the Bombay High Court reserved its order on his interim bail plea.
But the court said he can move the sessions court for regular bail in the meantime.
Elsewhere, the Raigad sessions court said it will hear police’s appeal against magistrate’s order denying them the custody of Goswami and two other accused on November 9.
After hearing marathon arguments, a division bench of Justices S S Shinde and M S Karnik said it would not be possible to pass the order on Saturday itself.
Goswami’s lawyer Harish Salve sought his release as “ad-interim relief” but the HC expressed inability to do so.
“We will pass the order at the earliest. The pendency of this matter does not preclude you (Goswami) or the other accused from approaching the concerned lower court seeking regular bail,” the court said.
If a bail plea is filed, then the sessions court shall decide it within four days, it said.
The high court was hearing petitions filed by Goswami, a high-profile TV journalist, and two other accused — Feroze Shaikh and Nitish Sarda — seeking interim bail and challenging their “illegal arrest”.
The trio were arrested by Alibaug police in Maharashtra’s Raigad district on November 4 in connection with the suicide of architect-interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother in 2018 over alleged non-payment of dues by their respective firms.
The petitions also sought a stay to the investigation and quashing of the FIR.

Press Trust of India