NEW DELHI: Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami has filed a petition in Bombay high court against his “illegal arrest” and has sought the quashing of the FIR lodged against him by the Alibaug Police, PTI reported. 

A division bench of justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik will hear the plea in the afternoon today.

The journalist was arrested from his Mumbai home in the early hours of Wednesday morning in relation to the 2018 abetment to a suicide case of an interior designer and his mother. The designer had alleged, in a suicide note, that Goswami and two other clients of his had not paid their dues. Two other arrests were also made in this regard. Later in the day, Goswami was sent to 14-day judicial custody.

Reports also mention that Mumbai police has registered FIR against Goswami, his wife, son and two others for allegedly assaulting a female police official.

Goswami’s arrest has sparked widespread criticism of the Maharashtra government and the Mumbai police, with many calling it an act of vendetta against him for his journalism. Several celebrities, ministers, journalists, and broadcasting associations have raised questions on the manner in which he was arrested.