Victim confirms FIR, Tarun Tejpal cornered in sexual assault case

The noose tightened around Tarun Tejpal, Tehelka founder, on Tuesday with the victim completely corroborating the first information report (FIR) filed by the Goa police against him.

Noted lawyer Shyam Keswani, who is assisting the young victim, told dna that the offence had all the ingredients of rape as defined in the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 2013. Asked if the victim will file a separate FIR, Keswani replied: “That may not be necessary. The legal process has already been initiated with the registration of the FIR by the Goa police. In any case, she has confirmed in writing the details of the FIR filed by the police.”

The police may record the victim’s statement before a magistrate too so as to fortify their case. It is learnt that the victim has expressed her willingness to cooperate totally with the investigation. A source to the investigating team said: “The details given by the victim are shocking. Tejpal deserves the most stringent punishment.”

In a separate development, deputy inspector-general (DIG) of police, Goa, OP Mishra, who is closely monitoring the investigation, said a nationwide alert has been sounded to prevent Tejpal’s escape. It is learnt that already the police at all airports in the country are familiar with Tejpal’s face because of wide coverage of the case by the media. Nevertheless, his photograph may be circulated as a matter of abundant precaution.

Sources said the victim arrived at the crime branch opposite Crawford Market in the afternoon accompanied by Keswani and gave a detailed account of the alleged sexual assaults on her by her boss Tejpal on November 7 and 8 in a luxury hotel in Goa. The team of Goa police, including investigating officer Sunita Sawant, first met joint commissioner of police (crime) Himanshu Roy and briefed him about the case. Later, they recorded her statement in one of the rooms of the crime branch. It is learnt that the Goa police showed her CCTV clips showing her and Tarun in the hotel lobby and entering the lift where the alleged sexual assaults took place.

Since there was no CCTV camera in the lift, there was no video recording of the sexual assault.
But the graphic details given by the victim strengthened the FIR in a big way, sources in the police said. A senior police official said: “Tejpal will be arrested any moment now. The victim is deeply hurt that after apologising for his gross behaviour towards her, he is now seeking to character assassinate her. She is now more determined than ever to get Tejpal, a person who was like a father-figure to her, punished.”

The Delhi high court, meanwhile, refused to grant interim protection against arrest to Tejpal.
Justice Sunita Gupta asked the counsel for the Goa police to file its reply and said: “I don’t even have the copy of the FIR with the petition. Let them file the reply then I will see.”

Senior advocate KTS Tulsi and Geeta Luthra, appearing for Tejpal, said: “This has become a political battle.” It was alleged that the FIR was politically-motivated with Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar evincing undue interest in the matter. They said Tejpal was entitled to interim protection “as has been the practice in this court”. But the Delhi police vehemently opposed the grant of transit bail. Mishra, however, denied that the investigation was politically motivated. “We are professionals,” he asserted.

Tejpal in his application for anticipatory bail said his woman colleague “continued to party and was completely normal and friendly all throughout her stay in Goa. She was at every party and social event through the conference (in Goa) and stayed out late in the night”. Terming the complaint “motivated, false and an afterthought”, the petition said it was filed after a delay of 10 days.

But member of the National Women’s Commission (NCW) and noted lawyer Nirmala Samant-Prabhavalkar said Tejpal, after admitting to his misconduct, “was now trying to dilute the offence”.
She said “now that the Goa police’s FIR has been confirmed by the victim’s statement, the police should lose no time in arresting Tejpal. Now there is absolutely no justification for delay”.

She said it was difficult to get anticipatory bail in cases of sexual assault. “Tejpal has got to be arrested forthwith,” she said.

Can Tejpal be arrested? Now that the victim has confirmed the details of the FIR filed by the Goa police, can the cops arrest Tejpal since no order has been passed yet on his anticipatory bail by the Delhi high court which is hearing his application?

This is the question being asked by activists. Noted lawyer Vibhav Krishna told dna that in the absence of any order on the anticipatory bail application, technically the police can arrest Tejpal.

“But as an accepted practice and norm, no arrest is made when a court is seized of the matter unless it can be shown that the suspect is likely to abscond, tamper with evidence, or is likely to interfere with the trial at a later stage.”

In this case, the victim has already alleged that her mother was approached by immediate members of Tejpal’s family who asked her what she “wanted”. They also tried to find out who her lawyer was. He said that the Goa police’s position under law has been vastly strengthened with the statement given by the victim to them on Tuesday in Mumbai. Krishna also noted that Tejpal was raising irrelevant issues. He observed that the victim was free to file an FIR on her own over and  above the one registered by the Goa police.

Police complaint against Tejpal’s family member: The victim’s mother on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Delhi police against an immediate family member of Tarun Tejpal, alleging “intimidation”.

Tehelka shutdown?
It is not clear whether the magazine will come out with the next issue. Replying to a dna query, Shoma Chaudhury, Tehelka’s managing editor, said: “It is not yet clear whether we will come out with further issues”

One more journalist quits
Senior editor Rana Ayyub resigned from her post in protest against the way the organisation handled the sexual assault case against founder and editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal. Ayyub is the sixth person to resign from Tehelka over the issue. The victim resigned on Monday. And last week, Shougat Dasgupta, Ayesha Siddiqa, Jay Mazoomdaar and Revati Laul  resigned from  the organisation—Priyanka Sahay