Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami is making headlines again, this time for his alleged chat with Partho Dasgupta, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Broadcast Audience Research Council , which measures television ratings
The loud mouthed anchor is allegedly having said on WhatsApp chat, “Bigger than a normal strike” three days prior to the Indian Air Force conducted airstrikes in Pakistan, Scroll reported.
The attack was billed as India’s response to an attack on 14 February 2019, in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed after an explosive-laden car driven by a suicide bomber rammed into their bus.
The purported chat is mentioned in a transcript that is part of a 3,400-page supplementary chargesheet filed by the Mumbai Police in their investigation into the alleged Television Ratings Point scam, according to The Hindu.
The chats, alleged advocate Prashant Bhushan on Twitter, “show many conspiracies & unprecedented access to power in this” government.
According to the transcript, on 23 February, 2019, Goswami texted Dasgupta saying: “On another note something big will happen”
After a few messages on other matters, Dasgupta asked, “Dawood?”, referring to the notorious gangster who is wanted in several cases.
The conversation continued:
Arnab Goswami: “No sir Pakistan. Something major will be done this time.”
Partho Dasgupta: “Good.”
Partho Dasgupta: “It’s good for big man in this season.”
Partho Dasgupta: “He will sweep polls then.”
Partho Dasgupta: “Strike? Or bigger”
Arnab Goswami: “Bigger than a normal strike. And also on the same time something major on Kashmir. On Pakistan the government is confident of striking in a way that people will be elated. Exact words used.”
In one of the alleged chats of 14 February 2019, Goswami says “This attack we have won like crazy.”
