Arnab's chats: Maha seeking legal opinion for action, says minister

The Maharashtra government istaking legal opinion on whether action can be taken againstRepublic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami under the OfficialSecrets Act over his purported WhatsApp chats concerning theBalakot air strike, a state minister said on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference here, Maharashtra HomeMinister Anil Deshmukh also sought to know from the Centre howGoswami got access to sensitive information regarding thestrike.

He was referring to the purported chats betweenGoswami and former Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC)head Partho Dasgupta, which mentioned that Goswami was privyto the 2019 air strike, when the Indian Air Force (IAF) hitthe biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistanon February 26 that year.

''The WhatsApp chat shockingly revealed that Arnab hadinformation about the Balakot air strike three days in advanceof the actual incident,'' he said.

''We want to ask the central government how Goswami gotsuch sensitive information about the attack, which isotherwise known only to prime minister, defence minister, Armychief and few select people,'' the minister said.

This issue is related to national security and thecentral government must reply on it, he said.

''The Maharashtra government is taking legal opinion onwhether the state home department can take action in thisconnection under the Official Secrets Act, 1923,'' Deshmukhsaid.

The air strike was carried out in Pakistan's Balakotin the wake of killing of 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir'sPulwama district on February 14, 2019 by Pakistan-basedJaish-e-Mohammed.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)