New Delhi: A Mumbai sessions court has dismissed the defamation complaint filed by deputy commissioner of police of Mumbai Abhishek Trimukh against Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, his wife Samyabrata Ray Goswami, and ARG Outlier Media.

The court ruled that complaint was not maintainable under provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). According to the relevant sections, the complaint had to be filed by the public prosecutor alone and no one else (including the person aggrieved by the offence), stated additional sessions judge Uday M.

The complaint was filed by DCP Abhishekh Trimukhe seeking that cognisance be taken under sections of defamation of the IPC against Goswami, his wife, and the company for publishing several defamatory statements through their TV channels. The statements were related to the Mumbai police investigation in the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in 2020.

In his complaint, Trimukhe claimed that through the broadcast, Goswami had allegedly tried to create an impression that the Mumbai police including Trimukhe had made a deal with one of the suspects, Rhea Chakraborty, “to wrongfully safeguard her from the police investigation in the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.” He further stated that “his unblemished image has been  tarnished by these baseless allegations.”

However, the bench observed that the person against whom the offence is committed is procedurally termed as a witness who is examined by the court. But since in the present case, the complainant and the person against whom the offence is committed are the same, it is not in conformity with the provisions of CrPC and dismissed the complaint.