Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami to honour police summons

Republic Media Network TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami on Tuesday assured that he would go to the N.M. Joshi Marg Police station at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.

"The Mumbai Police Commissioner should not worry. I will be there… sharp at 2 p.m. The police have sent me another summon… to appear… I will arrive 5 minutes early," Goswami said in a statement here on Tuesday evening.

Late on Monday night, the police had issued the summons asking Goswami to appear at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, which was revised to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, for the second round of questioning.

Goswami's statement came after he suffered a setback when the Bombay High Court on Tuesday declined to grant any relief to his plea seeking quashing of two FIRs lodged against him and the Republic TV in Mumbai and Nagpur.

A division bench comprising Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Riyaz Chagla also refused his plea seeking exemption from personal appearance before the Mumbai Police, but the court granted him protection from arrest.

Last month, the Supreme Court had also refused to grant a similar plea filed by Goswami.

Goswami is facing two FIRs in Mumbai and Nagpur accusing him of making provocative comments about a particular community during a news show.

( With inputs from IANS )