Panaji: Former Tehelka founder-editor Tarun Tejpal’s custody in the sexual assault case ends on Monday.
Tejpal had applied for bail to the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court. The plea will be heard this week. Reportedly, the Goa Police will file a charge sheet in the case before February 15.
Tejpal has been accused of sexually assaulting a junior colleague in Tehelka during an event in Goa last year. He is currently lodged at the Sada sub-jail in the port town of Vasco, 35 km from Panaji, as prisoner number 624.
Goa Police will file a charge sheet in the case before February 15 The Goa sessions court had earlier rejected Tejpal’s bail plea saying if he gets bail he could possibly influence the witnesses and jeopardise the case.
The 21-page observations of the court had suggested that the e-mail exchanges in the case and the CCTV footages from the Goa hotel rule out the possibility of the act being consensual.
Soon after the victim raised allegation against him, Tejpal resigned from Tehelka. Soon the issue was taken up by media and political parties after which another Tehelka top-editor Shoma Chowdhury too, had to resign. A number of employees from the investigative magazine has resigned after the incident, declaring their solidarity with the victim.