Lekha G
The Additional District and Sessions Judge North Goa Kshama Joshi has said that the former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal was acquitted in the 2013 rape case on basis of “Benefit of doubt” owing to the failure of police investigation and prosecution to prove the guilt of accused beyond reasonable doubt.
The 500-odd page judgment of the case was made available to the public domain pointing out various shortcomings in the police investigation of the case.
The Defence Counsel late Rajeev Gomes alleging the police of tampering evidence of the CCTV cameras contended that, “The investigating officer has, in some cases, such as the CCTV footage of the first floor of Block 7 of Grand Hyatt, entirely destroyed the evidence, knowing that it is necessary for the investigating officer to gather all evidence through investigation.”
Tejpal’s lawyers also further said that police inspector Sunita Sawant was not supposed to investigate the case as she was also a complainant in the case on behalf of Government of Goa.
The Court also made note of some inconsistencies in the statements made by the victim and pointed out the failure of the investigation officer in attaching the server of Tehelka magazine in spite of “Knowing the fact that all the email correspondence with the complainant girl and some other witnesses were done via Tehelka.com.”
Tejpal was booked under IPC Sections 376, 341, 342, 354A and 354B for allegedly raping his junior colleague in an elevator of a five-star resort in North Goa in 2013.
