Tehelka case: Tarun Tejpal arrested after his bail plea rejected

mangaloretoday.com

Panjim, Nov 30, 2013:  Tarun Tejpal, the founder of Tehelka, has been arrested on charges of raping a junior colleague after a court in Goa rejected his anticipatory bail plea. Mr Tejpal was arrested from the Goa crime branch office shortly after 9 pm, where he had been camping for almost five hours.

The 50-year-old will be taken into custody after a medical check-up. Mr Tejpal will tomorrow be produced in court, which will decide the duration of his remand.

 

Judge Anuja Prabhudesai, who was hearing the bail plea, has allowed Mr Tejpal to take the assistance of his lawyer briefly once a day during his interrogation. He will also be allowed to have home-cooked food.

Earlier in the day, Mr Tejpal had offered to submit his passport in court to avoid arrest. He was present in court, along with his wife and daughter.

"Mr Tejpal is ready to stay in Goa till the time it was required by the investigating agency," his lawyer had said.

The public prosecutor however argued that prima facie a case is established against the Tehelka founder and the police want his "custodial interrogation." The prosecutor said Mr Tejpal’s "immaculate reputation had gone for a toss and being in custody will not dent it any further."

The prosecution also said the CCTV footage from the hotel confirmed sexual assault and that the defence had ’added salt to injury by questioning the integrity of the girl’. They said the woman journalist has been consistent with her version, but Mr Tejpal has been "changing colours like a chameleon."

Mr Tejpal is accused of raping the reporter at an annual Tehelka conference in Goa earlier this month. She did not press charges, but detailed her allegations against him to her boss at Tehelka, Shoma Chaudhury, in an email that was leaked. She resigned last week.

he Goa Police used that email to commence its investigation against Mr Tejpal. Ms Chaudhury resigned as Tehelka’s Managing Editor on Thursday.