Goa police today issued an "immigration checkpost alert" against Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal, accused of sexually assaulting his junior colleague, so that he cannot leave the country even as it recorded the victim's statement.
Tejpal, who termed the victim's complaint as "motivated, false and an afterthought", meanwhile, failed to get interim protection against arrest from the Delhi High Court which fixed his anticipatory bail plea hearing for tomorrow.
The immigration alert at airports and ports was issued within minutes after the journalist deposed before the Goa crime branch team investigating the case in Mumbai this afternoon in connection with the alleged sexual assault on November 7 and 8 at a hotel in Goa.
"The immigration checkpost alert has been issued to all ports as a precautionary measure so that the accused in this case does not leave the country. The alert is issued to avoid the circumstances in which the accused might try to leave the country," DIG O P Mishra told reporters in Panaji.
The investigating officer in the case "is talking to the victim and she is fully cooperating with us," he said but declined to give details.
Ruling out any political interference in the investigation, the DIG said, "We are professionals and we act as per professional norms".
At the Delhi High Court, the Delhi police opposed the plea for grant of any transit bail to Tejpal who termed the womans' complaint as politically motivated alleging Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar was taking undue interest in the matter.
Terming one of the two incidents as "only light hearted bantering", Tejpal's bail petition said, "The nature of the said meeting can be easily established by perusal of a CCTV footage of Hotel Hyatt which is within the knowledge and reach of the Goa police but the same has been blatantly ignored by the investigating agency.
"That on November 8, 2013 a further meeting took place between the two individuals but the same lasted for few seconds and contained no incident which could constitute commission of a cognisable offence."
Tejpal said that his woman colleague "continued to party and was completely normal and friendly all throughout her stay in Goa".
"She was at every party and social event through the conference and stayed out late in the night."
Terming the complaint of the victim as "motivated, false and an afterthought", the petition said it was filed after a delay of 10 days. It also refuted the allegations against Tejpal.
