Tehelka's Tarun Tejpal, booked for allegedly sexually assaulting a journalist
A court in Delhi will today hear Tehelka founder Tarun Tejpal's plea for anticipatory bail following allegations of raping a young colleague in Goa earlier this month.
Also today, the Goa police are likely to record the formal statement of the Mumbai-based journalist who alleged that she was sexually assaulted by Mr Tejpal inside a life in a hotel where the magazine had organized an event earlier this month.
Over the weekend, the Goa Police recorded the testimony of three Tehelka employees in whom the young journalist had confided.
Mr Tejpal has not been questioned yet.
The journalist quit the magazine yesterday saying that she was "deeply traumatised by the lack of support offered by the organisation" and that she believed Tehelka's managing editor Shoma Chaudhary has tried to orchestrate a "cover-up". (
read)
Over the weekend she had expressed fears of intimidation and harassment - she said that a member of Mr Tejpal's immediate family had visited her mother in in Delhi and asked what the journalist "wanted". (
Read: 'I fear intimidation, harassment', says journalist)
Mr Tejpal, 50, has offered contradicting versions of what happened at his magazine's annual and high-profile conference in Goa. In an apology emailed to the young woman last week, he wrote, "I apologize unconditionally for the shameful lapse of judgement that led me to attempt a sexual liaison with you on two occasions....despite your clear reluctance that you did not want such attention from me." (
Full text of Tarun Tejpal's email to young journalist)
But after the Goa Police filed an FIR against him for rape, he said on Friday that the encounter had been consensual. (
Read: After Tarun Tejpal's email, signs of cover-up)
In a widely panned move, the editor also wrote that he was "recusing himself" from his office for six months as 'penance that lacerates me."