The Hindu : Tehelka's plea for return of tapes rejected

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 24, 2002

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National

Tehelka's plea for return of tapes rejected

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI Dec. 23. The Tehelka Commission, which is probing charges of corruption in defence deals, has turned down the request of the Managing Director of tehelka.com, Tarun Tejpal, for the return of all original tapes entrusted to it.

In reply to a letter from Mr. Tejpal, the Commission's Secretary said that the original `Operation West End' tapes formed part of the records kept in the custody of the Commission and they had been sealed. Therefore, the question of returning them to the portal did not arise at this stage.

In his request, Mr. Tejpal had voiced apprehension that he did not trust the Government to play fair and that the tapes be returned immediately.

The proceedings of the Commission came to a standstill following the resignation of its Chairman and former Supreme Court judge, Justice K. Venkataswami, on November 23. With the former Chief Justice, G.B. Pattanaik, declining to name a successor to Mr. Justice Venkataswami, the Government is now making efforts to appoint another retired Supreme Court judge to the post.

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