Goa session court to decide Tarun Tejpal’s police remand duration shortly

Panaji: Tarun Tejpal, the founder of Tehelka, is being produced in a Goa Sessions court which will decide the duration of his remand with the police.

Before entering the court, the lawyers for Mr Tejpal said the police may ask for a 14 day custody and that they will oppose it.

Mr Tejpal was arrested on charges of raping a junior colleague yesterday after the court rejected his anticipatory bail plea. Mr Tejpal was arrested from the Goa crime branch office in Dona Paula shortly after 9 pm, where he had been camping for almost five hours.

He was taken to the Goa Medical College for a medical check-up after which he was taken into custody.

“The statement of the victim and the documents in the form of emails etc., details of which need not be reproduced here, prima facie indicate that the applicant, who was her mentor and father figure, had not only outraged her modesty but had misused his position, betrayed her trust and violated her body,” Judge Anuja Prabhudesai had observed in her 25-page order.

The judge 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.

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.

The Goa Police used that email to commence its investigation against Mr Tejpal.