New Delhi:
The request for bail by Tehelka founder Tarun Tejpal, accused of raping a colleague, will be decided on Friday, the Delhi High Court said yesterday. It refused to stop the Goa Police from arresting him till then.
The 50-year-old editor has been ordered to meet the Goa Police for interrogation at 3 pm today.
He will be confronted with the testimony of the younger colleague who he allegedly raped at a five-star hotel in Goa earlier this month. She shared her version of events in a court in Goa yesterday.
In his request for bail in the Delhi High Court, Mr Tejpal described his interaction with her as "light heated banter." During yesterday's hearing, his lawyer acknowledged an "indiscretion" but did not elaborate.
The police said that it has an "open-and-shut" case against Mr Tejpal because has admitted to his offence in emails sent last week, one of them to the younger colleague he is accused of violating.
In that email, he apologized for trying to force "a sexual liaison" with her twice in Goa despite her "clear reluctance."
The Goa Police also alleged in court that a member of Mr Tejpal's family visited the journalist's mother in Delhi and suggested, "We can sit across the table and work this out."
The journalist has said that visit was intended to harass and intimidate her; her mother filed a police complaint in Delhi against Mr Tejpal on Tuesday.
The reporter did not press charges against Mr Tejpal. She complained not to the police but to Tehelka Managing Editor Shoma Chaudhary in an email which was leaked. The Goa Police used that email to charge Mr Tejpal with rape last week.