Tarun Tejpal granted interim bail, lawyers slammed in court

Panjim: Tarun Tejpal, the Tehelka founder accused of rape, will not be arrested till 10 am today, ruled a Goa judge, who is hearing his request for bail.

Mr Tejpal landed in Goa on Friday evening, and was greeted by protestors. He was later interrogated in the Goa crime branch office for over an hour.

In court, the judge, Anuja Prabhudessai, appeared to reject all major arguments offered by Mr Tejpal's lawyers as they petitioned for his bail. The judge also censured Geeta Luthra, Mr Tejpal's lawyer, for naming the woman reporter, who was allegedly raped. "Are you trying to malign her? We are not playing to the gallery. This is not a minor mistake," she said.

The judge seemed unimpressed with the defence lawyers' claims that the case against Mr Tejpal is a political conspiracy, and that the delay in filing the complaint by his colleague suggests it's inauthentic.

"I am concerned with the crime, not the political remarks that were made after," the judge said. The defence team has argued that the BJP, which is in power in Goa, is persecuting Mr Tejpal for earlier Tehelka exposes on its top leaders.

Ms Luthra said that the fact that the reporter attended parties at the annual Tehelka conference after the alleged sexual assault proves that the complaint is fabricated. The judge said her behaviour after the encounter "is irrelevant." (Read: Only "light-hearted bantering" not sexual assault, says Tarun Tejpal)

Mr Tejpal's appearance at the Delhi airport on Friday afternoon before he boarded the flight for Goa was his first public sighting since he was 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 Chaudhary, in an email that was leaked. (Tehelka case: What Tejpal did to me is legally rape, she says in statement)

The Goa Police used that email to commence its investigation against Mr Tejpal. Ms Chaudhary resigned as Tehelka's Managing Editor on Thursday.