An Additional Sessions and Fast Track Court here will hear four different applications pertaining to the sexual assault case filed against the former Tehelka editor-in-chief, Tarun Tejpal. Three of these applications were filed by Mr. Tejpal and one by the Goa police Crime Branch.
The judge on March 6 adjourned the matter, giving time to the prosecution to file a reply on the applications filed by the defence.
Mr. Tejpal contends, in one of his applications, that the Crime Branch charge sheet had disclosed the victim’s identity, including her cell phone number and emails.
In another, he has sought details of all the stated evidence in the charge sheet. In the last one, he maintains that the investigating officer did not take defence into confidence during the case’s committal.The Crime Branch has applied to the court seeking to file a supplementary charge sheet in the case. Investigating Officer Sunita Sawant has pleaded that they were yet to get more evidence, such as a statement from Hollywood actor Robert de Niro, who was present in the Goa hotel during the incident, and a forensic report of the material collected from the accused, victim and other witnesses.
Mr. Tejpal has been in jail for the alleged rape of a junior female journalist colleague during Tehelka’s Think Fest event which was held at a five-star hotel in south Goa in November last year. Arrested on November 30 after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by District Sessions Court, Panaji, Mr. Tejpal is in judicial custody.
