New Delhi: Tehelka Editor Tarun Tejpal, who has been accused of sexually assaulting his junior colleague at a hotel in Goa, on Tuesday cried foul before the Delhi High Court alleging that he has been implicated at the behest of BJP which is biased against him.
In his anticipatory bail plea, Tejpal said he had exposed corruption in defence deals in 2001 due to which BJP's then President Bangaru Laxman as well as then defence minister had to resign and he and Tehelka have been targeted due to this.
"The bias of BJP against the applicant (Tejpal) is well known fact and has earlier been nastily manifested in a manner in which Tehelka was targeted post its expose on corrupt defence deals in 2001 and was forced to shut down operations for over three years as well as many of its employees being implicated in false criminal cases," he said in his plea.
"The mannerism and the scale in which BJP has unleashed the wrath of its vengeance upon the applicant in grab of the present FIR is synonymous to the previous attempts of the BJP to malign and target the applicant and the same is apparent by the statements issued by various party leaders including the present Chief Minister of Goa," the plea filed before Justice Sunita Gupta said.
The court, however, refused to grant interim protection against arrest to him and asked the counsel for Goa Police to file its reply, if any, and fixed the hearing for on Wednesday.
Tejpal, in his bail plea, also said that he had conducted various sting operations against 'prominent members' of the political executive of BJP and had openly exposed 'various illegal/criminal acts committed by them'.
"It is pertinent to note that applicant (Tejpal) exposed then President of BJP (Bangaru Laxman) in 2001 for committing corruption in defence deals as a result of which the party president as well as the then defence minister of then Union Government had to resign," he said.
"Furthermore, the applicant was also instrumental in exposing the role of prominent party leaders and the manner in which BJP was attempting to buy over crucial eye witnesses and scuttle fair investigation in the Gujarat riots case," the plea said.
He also claimed that the investigating agency is turning 'a blind eye' to please its political masters and are not conducting the probe in a fair manner.
"The examination of the CCTV footage of Hotel Hyatt, Goa for November 7 and 8, 2013 will not only unveil the concoction but will also establish the innocence of applicant (Tejpal).
"The factum contained in the aforementioned CCTV footage is well within the knowledge of the present investigating agency, however, the investigating agency, in its endevaor to please its political masters is turning a blind eye to it in abrogation of its primary duty, i.e. to conduct a fair investigation and reveal the truth," the plea said.
Next - Tejpal plea to hand over case to CBI may be escape route: BJP
Tejpal plea to hand over case to CBI may be escape route: BJP
New Delhi: BJP on Tuesday dismissed former Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal's demand that the sexual assault case against him be handed over to CBI, saying he may be using this as an "escape route" as he is close to ruling Congress.
Congress, however, rejected BJP's contention and claimed that there is no reason why this issue should be linked to politics.
Party spokesperson P.C. Chacko drew parallels of this case with the snooping scandal allegedly involving Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Asked about Tejpal's apprehensions that the case against him may not be probed fairly by Goa Police as BJP is in power in the state, BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said, "This (plea to give case to CBI) can be an excuse. It may be an escape route to get away... Congress likes Tejpal and he likes Congress."
In reply to Tejpal's allegation that BJP has maligned him, Naidu said, "Has BJP entered his soul and made him do these things in the lift? This is atrocious. There is a limit to which you can make allegations. Next a demand will come that the inquiry should be done outside the country. Some people had gone to the UN in one case while some wrote to the US president in another."
He sought to know in what way is BJP involved in the act committed by Tejpal.
"Law should take its own course. The move to malign the victim is deplorable," Naidu said. Congress maintained it is not using its powers to influence the probe into Tejpal's misconduct.
"Whether it is Modi or Tejpal, both are now caught for the same reason. Congress will not defend either... This is a typical game that the BJP is playing. Why should an instance of this kind be politicised. It was Mahila Congress which had first organised an agitation at Jantar Mantar on the Tejpal case," Chacko said.
BJP insisted that this case should not be compared with the snooping incident and said a "rattled, desperate" Congress is raking it up.
"Law will take its own course. Congress is hell-broken. It is rattled, desperate as it cannot match the popularity of Modi. It is resorting to cheap dirty tricks," Naidu said about the snooping case.
Gujarat government has appointed a two-member Commission of Inquiry headed by a retired woman judge of the Ahmedabad High Court to probe the alleged illegal surveillance of a woman architect. The snooping was reportedly done at the behest of Modi.
Naidu ruled out Congress demand for a rethink on Modi as BJP's prime ministerial candidate.
"The entire BJP is behind Modi. Let them not divert attention from issues," Naidu said. He emphasised that Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar is taking this case very seriously but investigative agencies have been given full freedom and asked not to worry about the profile of the editor. "Political parties should not get involved in this case," Naidu said.
