The Goa Police on Saturday arrested Tarun Tejpal after the Sessions Court rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Tehelka editor, facing charges of rape and sexually assaulting a woman journalist in a five star hotel.
The arrest was made an hour after the court order, which was initially reserved to be pronounced at 4.30 pm but was actually done at 8.04 pm by North Goa District and Sessions Judge Anuja Prabhudessai. During the three-and-a-half-hour long agonising wait before the order finally came, Tejpal camped himself at the Goa Police’s Crime Branch office. Police sources said it was his strategy to avoid being paraded in public from the courtroom, located more than five km away, to custody.
Police sources said that Tejpal was taken to the Goa Medical College, located nearby, for a medical examination. He will be briefly questioned on Sunday morning before being taken to a Judicial Magistrate for remand. Police Inspector Sunita Sawant, who is investigating the case, presented the arrest warrant to Tejpal, who had camped at the Crime Branch office from 4.30 pm even as his family and friends were in the packed courtroom awaiting the order on the bail plea.
The judge allowed Tejpal to take the assistance of his lawyer briefly, once a day during interrogation in custody, if he wants. He will also be allowed to have home-cooked food, bedding and clothes.
“Tejpal will not be challenging the court’s order right now,” his lawyer Geeta luthra said. Earlier, terming him a “chameleon” as he continued to give different statements, the Goa Police sought Tejpal’s custodial interrogation saying ‘prima facie’ a case of rape is established. Public Prosecutor (PP) Saresh lotlikar argued that Tejpal should be in police custody so that he can be properly interrogated. “The accused has been changing colours like a chameleon through different statements,” he said.
lotlikar further said the CCTV footage of the hotel in Goa where the incident occurred early this month gives enough hints confirming the allegation of rape. He also argued that Tejpal was not available for Goa Police and appeared only after getting interim relief from court on Friday. He alleged that Tejpal has in the past tried to influence the family of the complainant and referred to an FIR filed in Delhi in this regard. The accused is interfering in the investigation and is well corroborated by his past conduct, he said and pointed out that the victim has been consistent in her statements. Goa police has filed an FIR slapping charges of rape, custodial rape and outraging the modesty of the woman journalist of Tehelka. If convicted, Tejpal faces a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life sentence in jail.
“Your contention is that your (Tejpal’s) immaculate reputation will be damaged. May we tell you that it’s already gone for a toss, and mere detention under police custody won’t do any further damage,” the prosecution argued. Tejpal’s lawyer opposed the police seeking his custody saying he was ready to stay in Goa till the time the investigating agency needed him. She said since Tejpal was ready to surrender all documents including his passport, his arrest was not necessary. She also maintained that Tejpal will not visit Mumbai, where the victim is currently residing. “There should not be any fear that he (Tejpal) will tamper with witnesses or evidence,” the defence lawyer said.
luthra also ruled out the possibility of Tejpal fleeing the country saying he has not fled before the FIR or after that. “My client cannot tamper with the aggrieved girl as she will stand by her statement,” she said. The court had on Friday given him interim relief by barring the police from arresting him till the hearing on his anticipatory bail plea was over.
Tejpal, who was present in the court, was later heckled by a protester who hurled a black flag on him, but missed the target as he entered the car. Tejpal, however, headed to the crime branch office ahead of the verdict that was scheduled for 4.30 pm. In the morning too he had visited the crime branch office but was not quizzed then.