The Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court in Panaji on Wednesday evening gave Tehelka co-founder Tarun Tejpal’s lawyers a copy of the CCTV footage from the Goa hotel where he is accused of sexually assaulting a junior colleague in November last year.
“I can assure you that there is nothing incriminating in it,” said Raunaq Rao, Tejpal’s lawyer, while coming out of the court where CJM Ashley Noronha viewed the footage twice along with lawyers from both sides.
Mr. Tejpal made an application to the CJM on Tuesday seeking a copy of the footage which was not given to him along with the charge sheet. He alleged that the Goa police was not playing fair by withholding the same.
The charge sheet filed by the Goa police on Monday stated that the footage showed the journalist adjusting her dress with her left hand after emerging from the lift and Tejpal wiping his mouth with his left hand.
“There is nothing of that sort in the footage,” claimed Mr. Rao. He said Mr. Tejpal and the journalist can only be seen entering and leaving quite normally, with no sign of any agitation on her part.
Mr. Tejpal has been charged with sexually assaulting and outraging the modesty of the journalist twice in the hotel elevator during the ThinkFest event.
He is now in judicial custody in Sada sub-jail, Vasco.
Parrikar denies allegations
Meanwhile, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday said he would check the legal provisions and if required, the government would approach the High Court to set up a special court for speedy trial of the Tejpal case.
He was responding to questions from presspersons on the charge sheet and Mr. Tejpal’s allegations that the case against him was political vendetta unleashed by the Goa government. “The government has nothing to do with the case. The court has to decide whether he has committed the crime or not,” Mr. Parrikar said.
