The Additional Sessions and Fast Track Court here has posted for April 16 the hearing on an application filed by Tehelka founder-editor Tarun Tejpal — accused in the journalist sexual assault case — seeking copies of the unedited CCTV footage from the hotel where the alleged incident took place.
When the application came up for hearing in the court on Friday, Tejpal’s lawyers sought the unedited footage from the hotel from November 7 to November 29, 2013. Judge Vijaya Pol asked investigation officer Sunita Sawant whether the unedited footage could be copied on a pen drive and given.
The footage was confiscated by the Goa Crime Branch from the five-star hotel. The Crime Branch has already given the edited CCTV footage to Tejpal. The prosecution cited technical reasons for its inability to give the unedited footage and apprehended that the defence was trying to delay the trial.
‘Take help of experts’
The judge observed that the defence was entitled to whatever material was available with the prosecution and suggested that the prosecution take the help of IT experts and see how it could be made available to the defence.
