Arnav Goswami remanded in custody for 14 days

Agency: A court sent the lead anchor of India’s fiercely nationalist and popular Republic television network to jail for 14 days for allegedly abetting a suicide case.

Police picked up Arnab Goswami, an aggressive journalist known for championing right-wing causes in his prime time debates, from his Mumbai home early on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

Top leaders of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party sprang to Goswami’s defence and said it was no way to treat the press. BJP blamed opposition politicians who run the government in western Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is located.

But the BJP has faced criticism that it has sought to intimidate journalists and activists in states that it governs. Critics said its defence of free speech was selective and that Goswami was an conservative ally of the ruling party.

Police said the case against Goswami is related to the 2018 suicide of an interior decorator who allegedly left a note saying Republic TV had not paid him for design work on its television studio.

A case of abetment to suicide that was registered against Goswami but the suicide case was later closed for lack of evidence. But police said they had re-opened the case and late on Wednesday night a district court ordered him to custody.