In the latest development, Tarun Tejpal, the accused of sexually assaulting a woman colleague, was on Sunday sent to police remand for six days following which Crime Branch officials began grilling him. Tejpal, who was arrested at 9 PM yesterday
Ironically, this comes in 2013, the year Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, was passed.
With the Goa incident, his charm has waned and his career is at stake, but is a good lesson for all. No power or money is ultimate.
Tejpal reportedly owns six companies since 2006 and has properties in and around Delhi, apart from an entire village in Goa. From sub-editor to a millionaire, his is a real story of achievement and success.
Following the sting operations, in 2010, he was presented with Award for Excellence in Journalism by the International Press Institute's India Chapter Award.
While Tejpal's debut novel The Alchemy of Desire (2006), won Le Prix Mille Pages and The Valley of Masks (2011) was listed for Man Asian Literary Prize 2011, The Alchemy of Desire has him reportedly nominated for the Bad Sex Award literary prize in
There was no end to his hunger for power and money, which led him into owning Thinkworks Pvt Ltd, which organises Think Fest. His partners in the company are his sister Neena Tejpal and Tehelka's Shoma Chaudhary.
He might have lost the trust of feminists like Roy, but his life shows that he had a great insight into the future. In 2000, when there was a dotcom boom, Tejpal saw the potential in internet and quit Outlook in 2000 to start tehelka.com, an
Meanwhile, Arundhati Roy has dubbed the entire sexual assault episode as "Rape Number Two: the rape of the values and the politics that Tehelka claims it stands."
In pursuit of greater fame, he joined Outlook, the rival publication of India Today. Simultaneously, he founded a publishing company, India, Ink which published Arundhati Roy's Booker Prize winning novel 'The God of Small Things' in 1998.
Tejpal had a humble beginning in journalism in the early 1980s with India Today as a senior sub-editor in Delhi after he quit The Indian Express and left Chandigarh. Restless for recognition, Tejpal worked hard and rose to the post of books editor
Tehelka shot to fame with its expose on corruption in the defence ministry and then BJP president Bangaru Laxman taking a Rs 1 lakh bribe. While none remembers the reporters who carried out the operation, Tejpal revelled in the glory. He became a
This year, when those flashlights went off, Tarun, whom Asiaweek called Asia's 50 most powerful communicators, found himself in an ugly sex episode that threatens to isolate him from all the relations he has famously built for years.
Thinkfest, Tehelka's annual event, not just underlined his eminence as a journalist, but was a show of his penchant to mingle with the glamorous and the rich. He couldn't resist the charm of these flashlights. (pic: A Goa beach)
Hobnobbing with the likes of Nobel laureate V S Naipaul, a flamboyant Tejpal never a lost on opportunity to hog the limelight, be it the awards ceremony or the sting operations. The guest list included who's who of Bollywood, Hollywood and political
But that didn't do any good to him, as the Goa police began the investigation and he was forced to file for an anticipatory bail. More annoyingly, the girl he misbehaved with is the best friend of his daughter.
"Must do the penance that lacerates me. I am therefore offering to recuse myself from the editorship of Tehelka, and from the Tehelka office, for the next six months,” he wrote.
He has this ease of words when it comes to writing books or an apology, but this time, he made the wrong choice of using the word ‘recuse’ that has let him down. In his mail to Shoma Chaudhury, Tehelka Managing editor, he said he would voluntarily
Unfortunately, he conveniently failed to differentiate between sexual assault and drunken banter. While the girl, whom he sexually abused at Tehelka's Thinkfest in Goa, is bold enough to report what actually happened in the lift, he begs to call it
Behind his pony tail and white beard, Tejpal, 50, hid his yearning for stardom. His charm was accentuated with his superior authority over the language which was reflected in his adjective-laced writing.
The name Tarun Tejpal is beyond Tehelka. He was synonymous with its fame, but was way above the brand name. The best literary editor, aggressive entrepreneur, an eminent journalist, who nurtured an absurd lust for fame, is now charged with rape.
Tejpal 'raped' a junior colleague at Tehelka's ThinkFest in Goa earlier this month. While Goa police will interrogate him, DC Online tells you how Tejpal had a reputation of hobnobbing with the rich and glamorous.
At the airport, he was accompanied by his family members. In an early morning raid on Friday, Goa police had gone to his house to arrest him, but Tejpal managed to get granted interim bail till 2.30 PM on a personal bond of Rs 10,000.
The judge had said the applicant is not only an influential person but the record prima facie indicates that the applicant tried to influence the family of the victim and the possibility of the applicant interfering with the evidence cannot be ruled
Tarun Tejpal, flamboyant editor who craved for fame