Accused journalist denied interim relief

Tejpal plea rejected as police take statement from alleged sexual assault victim

he Delhi High Court yesterday declined to give interim relief to Tehelka editor- in- chief Tarun Tejpal after Goa police opposed his plea for anticipatory bail in the case of alleged sexual assault on a junior woman colleague.

Goa police said they had recorded the statement of the woman journalist, who has accused Tejpal of sexually assaulting her twice at a five- star resort in Panaji this month.

The woman has resigned from her job with the magazine after accusing management of sheltering Tejpal.

In her statement, the victim reiterated the points she made to Tehelka’s managing editor Shoma Chaudhury, a police source told IANS.

“The statement is consistent with the complaint to Shoma and with the versions told to us by the three journalists [ former employees of Tehelka] who the victim had confided in,” the official said.

Goa police said they had alerted all immigration points as a precaution to prevent Tejpal from leaving India. Police have still not decided how and where to question him.

Tejpal, who had been moved the Delhi High Court, did not get interim relief on his plea for anticipatory bail, with Justice Sunita Gupta

Tasking police to file a reply by today. Goa police opposed the bail plea, saying the matter was serious.

Tejpal’s counsel K. T. S Tulsi and Geeta Luthra asked the court to pass an order granting him protection from arrest till police filed a reply.

Tejpal alleged that the Goa government was victimising him because the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) had a “longstanding grudge” against him for the investigative journalism he did when the party ruled the country.

In 2001, Tejpal was behind a sting operation on leaders of the BJP- led National Democratic Alliance government that exposed corruption in defence deals.

It resulted in the resignation of then BJP president Bangaru Laxman and defence minister George Fernandes.

Tejpal said the woman stayed out late into the night during the ThinkFest conference in Goa where the alleged assault took place. He said the encounter with her was “light- hearted bantering”.

Tejpal called the allegation an after- thought, pointing out that it was reported after 10 days.

Meanwhile,, Tehelka suffered a setback as Urvashi Butalia, the director of Zubaan Books whom it had named to head a panel to look into the allegations against Tejpal, made it known that she was not on the panel.

Tehelka later issued a statement saying it was trying to persuade lawyers and activists to stay on a panel to investigate the charges.