TRP scam: Bombay HC extends Arnab Goswami's interim relief till March 5

The Bombay High Court hearing the TRP scam case on Friday extended till March 5 the interim protection against coercive action granted to journalist Arnab Goswami and other employees of ARG Outlier Media that runs Republic TV channelsThe interim relief was extended after the high court adjourned the hearing on ARGs plea challenging the investigation of Mumbai police in the TRP scam caseFridays hearing was adjourned after the Maharashtra governments counsel senior advocate Kapil Sibal pointed out that in its rejoinder affidavit filed last week to counter the polices charge sheet ARG had relied upon several new documents that were not part of its petitionSibal said that since he would need time to respond to the new documents ARGs counsel senior lawyer Harish Salve must not rely upon those documents during his days argumentsSalve however insisted on relying upon those documentsThe court then adjourned the hearing after accepting Sibals statement that the interim protection granted to Goswami and the others will continue till the next dateA bench of Justices S S Shinde and Manish Pitale said it will hear the plea through videoconferencing only for its interim prayer of protection on March 5The bench will hear ARGs main prayers challenging the polices investigation and seeking the transfer of probe to the CBI or any other independent agency on March 16 via physical hearingSalve told the court that he had taken the vaccination for COVID 19 recently and was due for the next shot of the vaccine six weeks laterTherefore he will not be able to travel to attend the physical hearingThe court then intervened on a lighter vein and asked the Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh when the judges and senior lawyers were likely to get the vaccineI am deviating but Mr Singh ASG why is vaccination not happening for us also the bench askedARG media and Goswami had approached the high court last year filing a bunch of petitions seeking several reliefs in the TRP scamThey alleged that the whole case was malafide and that they have been targeted for Republic TVs reportage in the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and the Palghar lynching case last yearLast month the Mumbai police had filed two affidavits in the case through Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh and ACP Shashank Sandbhor of the crime branch saying it had not targeted Republic TV or its employeesThe police had said its probe was not a result of any political vendettaThe same HC bench on Friday adjourned another petition filed by Goswami seeking to quash the case lodged against him in a 2018 abetment of suicide caseThis plea will also be heard on March 5Goswami and two others have been accused of abetting the suicide of an interior designer Anvay NaikThe trio were arrested in the case and later released on bailThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever