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Goa Police charge Tejpal with rape

Panaji, February 17
The Goa crime branch on Monday formally charged Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal with raping a junior colleague after a two-and-half-month-long investigation.

Tejpal was also charged with sexual harassment and other Sections of the new Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, in the 2,846-page chargesheet.

The chargesheet filed with District and Sessions Judge Anuja Prabhudessai contains statements of over 150 witnesses and over 1,400 pages of annexure documents.

The documents include sketches, hotel bill receipts, authenticated copies of email conversations, copies of CCTV grabs and the complaint recorded before a magistrate. Police sources said a bunch of emails written by Tejpal to the woman journalist and to Tehelka's former managing editor Shoma Chaudhury virtually confirming a sexual encounter was a key evidence mentioned in the chargesheet.

"The last days have been most testing and I squarely take the blame for this. A bad lapse of judgement, an awful misreading of the situation, have led to an unfortunate incident that rails against all we believe in and fight for," is a passage from an email from Tejpal that was quoted in the chargesheet.

After the chargesheet was filed by Inspector Sunita Sawant, Deputy Inspector General OP Mishra told reporters that the case was water-tight and that he was hopeful the trial would be completed within 60 days according to the provisions of the amended law after the December 16, 2012 gang rape.

"The special public prosecutor will also request the trial judge to conduct the hearing on a day-to-day basis. Under amended Section 309 (i) of the Indian Penal Code, the trial has to be completed in 60 days," Mishra said.

Mishra also said before being arrested on November 30, Tejpal had led investigators on a hunt across India, with Goa Police teams having to fan out across Mumbai, Delhi, Noida, Hyderabad and Bangalore. The junior woman colleague accused Tejpal of raping her during a conference organised by the Tehelka founder in Goa. — IANS

Daily trial likely