Sushant Singh Rajput case: Mumbai DCP files defamation case against Arnab Goswami

Mumbai: A deputy commissioner of police (DCP) in Mumbai on Wednesday filed a criminal defamation complaint against Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami for certain claims made during the coverage of the Sushant Singh Rajput death case.

Goswami's lawyers claimed that the tweets referred to in the complaint filed by DCP Abhishek Trimukhe were from a fake Twitter account as their client "is not on social media".

Trimukhe's complaint, filed before the sessions court here, also named ARG Outlier Media Private Limited which owns Republic Media Network, and Goswami's wife, as she is one of its directors.

"There were some tweets which misrepresented Trimukhe. He had written about it to the Maharashtra government. The state home department gave its sanction (to file a complaint)," a senior police official said.

The complaint has been filed under Indian Penal Code sections 499, 500 (defamation) and 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory).

Goswami made "grossly false", "malicious" and defamatory statements during the coverage of actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death by suicide last year, it claimed. These defamatory statements were telecast on the channel Republic Bharat during a discussion about phone records of actor Rhea Chakraborty, Rajput's girlfriend, it said.

"The said defamatory attacks have been made with a singular view of assassinating his (Trimukhe's) official character and thereby...maliciously and deliberately causing undue humiliation of the Mumbai Police Department," the complaint said.

Goswami also tweeted the contents of the telecast to a larger audience, the complaint said.

A statement from Goswami's legal team said that "he is not on social media" and the tweets to which the complaint referred was a fake Twitter handle impersonating the journalist. "On the other parts, the Republic Media Network will respond legally as per due process," it said.