The tragic alleged June 14 suicide in Mumbai of Sushant Singh Rajput, a personable rising Bollywood film star, has transformed television into a media circus. A lurid latter-day tragedy of sex, suicide, murder, conspiracy, drug abuse, financial shenanigans and political intrigue is being played out in drawing rooms of rich and poor households across the country. Leading the charge of the idiot box wolf pack is Arnab Goswami, promoter-director of Republic Media Network and chief anchor of the Republic English language television news channel, and indisputably the most infamous TV news anchor countrywide.

On his nightly prime time (9-11 p.m) show, participants with Goswami in the lead, outshout, badger, bully and humiliate invited (reportedly for handsome consideration) guests, to the obvious delight of the public, which has given Republic News the highest TRPs (television rating points which translate into advertising revenue) of any English news channel. Goswami is reportedly a postgraduate of Cambridge University (UK). Quite obviously, the one-year duration Masters programme of British universities is not enough for learning good drawing room
manners for which Brits are famous.

Be that as it may, for the past two months Goswami has obsessively latched on to Rajput’s alleged suicide which he insists was a carefully planned murder and/or suicide abetment case, with terrier-like ferocity. In support of his contention, he assembled a substantial body of evidence and a national signature campaign which persuaded the Supreme Court to transfer investigation into the case from the bumbling Mumbai police to the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation). However instead of being content with this major victory, driven by TRP greed and megalomania, this runaway news anchor has continued his parallel investigation and pilloried the late actor’s girl-friend, Rhea Chakraborty as the vamp behind this alleged skulduggery.

For the past several weeks paying scant attention to major issues such as the rampaging coronavirus, China’s incursions on the north-eastern border, and severe contraction of the economy, Goswami has fixated his amphibious stare on this case, now embellished with speculations of drug running, Bollywood debauchery and nepotism, political conspiracy and cover-up. But to her credit, Chakraborty, a struggling actress, has hit back in interviews with rival news channels tearfully alleging a vicious media trial, persecution and character assassination by Goswami and Republic TV.

Slowly but inexorably, the tide of public opinion is turning against this latter-day media Mephistopheles who blinded by greed and ambition, has clearly overreached himself. And far from winning public plaudits as a champion of the “forgotten middle class”, he is arousing the hatred, ridicule and contempt of right-thinking members of society.