Tehelka assault case: Reports suggest arrest of Tejpal on arrival in Goa
Panaji – Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal is reported to be on his way to Goa, but is not responding to calls or messages of police in the state to appear before them by 3 p.m. today.
Goa Police has summoned Tejpal to appear before it in connection with the sexual assault allegation against him.
Media reports are saying that Tejpal could be arrested as soon as he arrives in Goa by flight.
He has been summoned in the wake of the recording of the statement made by the victime, a former woman journalist of Tehelka, before a Goa court.
She was allegedly sexually assaulted in a lift in a five-star hotel in Goa earlier this month.
The Delhi High Court had on Wednesday reserved its order on Tejpal’s bail application till Friday. Tejpal had applied for anticipatory bail even before the Goa Police summoned him.
Tejpal has filed a petition before the high court alleging that there was conspiracy behind the allegations of sexual assault, that the woman journalist was lying, and described the incident as a ‘light hearted banter’.
Goa Police had on November 22 lodged an FIR against Tejpal under IPC sections 376 (rape), 376 (2)(K) (rape by a person of a woman in his custody taking advantage of his official position) and 354 (outraging modesty). Conviction under section 376 of IPC entails a maximum of life term in jail.
Tejpal has suggested that the young journalist’s version of events is not entirely accurate. But in an email to her sent on Tuesday, he had admitted to a “shameful lapse of judgment that led me to attempt a sexual liaison with you on two occasions on 7 November and 8 November 2013, despite your clear reluctance that you did not want such attention from me.”
Goa Police was instructed by the state government to investigate her allegations, contained in the email by her to Chaudhury. That email was leaked to the press. The FIR against Tejpal lists rape by a person in a position of authority over the woman, an offence that carries a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison.
