New Delhi:
Tarun Tejpal, the founder of Tehelka, has been charged with rape in an FIR by the Goa police, which says a team will travel to Delhi to arrest him. A young woman journalist has said he sexually assaulted her on two days at a Tehelka event in Goa earlier this month.
Mr Tejpal has also been charged with outraging a woman's modesty and rape by someone who had dominance and authority over the woman, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and a minimum 10 years in jail.
Here are the 10 big developments in this story
Mr Tejpal in a statement today said that he will cooperate with the investigation.
He said he wants the police "to obtain, examine and release the CCTV footage so that the accurate version of events stands clearly revealed. "(Urge police to release CCTV footage, says Tarun Tejpal)
The Goa police says it has gone through the footage from the security cameras at the five-star hotel where the alleged assault took place.
Shoma Chaudhury, the Managing Editor of Tehelka, said that Mr Tejpal's version of events is different from what the journalist has offered, and that a committee created at the news-magazine will examine both accounts.
Ms Chaudhury said that despite the differing accounts, she asked Mr Tejpal to issue an unconditional apology to the young journalist.
Speaking to NDTV today, Ms Chaudhury said "I do not believe it is my place to go the police." Activists and legal experts have questioned why neither she nor Mr Tejpal reported the complaint to the police, given the gravity of the allegations. (Watch: Not my place to go to police, Tehelka's Shoma Chaudhury tells NDTV)
Ms Chaudhury also said that her actions were guided partly by concerns like the financial future of the organization and whether the controversy could cost people their jobs.
The Union Home Ministry has asked the Goa government for a report on what it has uncovered so far.
The journalist has not filed a police case. She made her complaint in an email sent on Monday to Ms Chaudhury.
BJP leader Arun Jaitley has accused Mr Tejpal and Ms Chaudhury of striking "a private treaty" in what he described as an attempt to suppress "a clear case of rape."
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