Republic illegally used Doordarshan’s DTH platform, says Congress

MUMBAI: Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Tuesday said that the state government will be seeking legal opinion on whether action can be taken against

Republic TV

’s Arnab Goswami under the Official Secrets Act, 1923, for leaking sensitive information in purported chats with former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta.



Deshmukh was speaking to mediapersons after a Congress delegation led by party general secretary Sachin Sawant met him to demand that action be taken against Goswami for leaking information related to the Pulwama attack and the

Balakot

strikes. In the purported chats Goswami told Dasgupta three days before the Balakot strikes that “something big will happen.”



Deshmukh said he will hold a meeting with senior police officials to understand whether the state could take any action in this case. “I have sought legal opinion if action can be initiated by the state under Section 5 of the Official Secrets Act.” He said the Centre should take note of the chats as they are directly related to national security.




Deshmukh said, “We have taken serious note of the leaked WhatsApp chats between Goswami and Dasgupta. In the chat Arnab mentions the Balakot airstrike two days before it actually happened. It’s a serious threat to national security if such sensitive information was leaked,” he said.





Sawant said, “We demand that Goswami should be arrested immediately in view of the fact that he disclosed information pertaining to defence secrets. Further, it should be probed if he shared the information with any other persons.”



Sawant alleged that Republic TV has also illegally used the DTH (direct to home) platform of Doordarshan without any agreement with Doordarshan, and a formal complaint was made to the Central ministry in this regard, but no action was taken. “All-out efforts were made to fraudulently enhance TRPs (television rating points),” Sawant said.




Sawant said they have demanded action by the

Economic Offences Wing

with regard to use of the DTH platform as Republic operates from Mumbai.