Not running away from law: Tejpal

A week after the former Tehelka Editor-in-Chief, Tarun Tejpal, was booked for allegedly raping a woman journalist, Mr. Tejpal on Friday boarded a Goa-bound flight from Delhi. The Goa police on Wednesday issued him summons, asking him to join the investigations.

Non-bailable warrant

While Mr. Tejpal had sought time till Friday, his request was rejected and a non-bailable warrant was issued against him.

Earlier on Friday morning, the Goa police, in coordination with their counterparts from Delhi, conducted raids to track down Mr. Tejpal, whose whereabouts were not known.

“A Crime Branch team accompanied the Goa police to Mr. Tejpal’s house on Friday morning,” a Delhi Police officer said.

But, the team did not find Mr. Tejpal, whose family members denied knowledge of his whereabouts. The Goa police later went to Goa Sadan and waited there till they got a tip-off that Mr. Tejpal was about to board a flight to Goa in the afternoon. Accordingly, policemen were deployed at the airport and tickets booked for the same flight. By that time, the former

Tehelka Editor had already secured interim relief from a Goa court. The Goa police team left Goa Sadan around 12.45 p.m. for the Delhi airport to board a flight to Goa, said a Delhi Police source.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tejpal, who on Friday faced the media for the first time after the scandal broke out, maintained he was not running away from the law and that he had received the Goa police summon only on Thursday.

“I am going to Goa to join the investigations,” he told reporters, minutes before boarding the flight.

The Goa police issued the summons after they received the victim’s statement on Wednesday.