TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The voluminous chargesheet filed against Tehelka founder editor Tarun Tejpal reveals he was enraged that the victim journalist had discussed the alleged sexual assault on her with his daughter Tiya during the three-day long Think Fest event at a Goa resort in November 2013.
The chargesheet also discloses that the following day Tejpal sent text messages on the victim’s mobile phone asking her to rectify the situation since his daughter was upset with him.
“How could you tell Tiya what happened… She’s my daughter. Do you even understand what the word means? Just get away from me, I’m so f****** pissed off with you right now,” was how he reacted when she mentioned to him about how Hollywood actor Robert De Niro was upset that he was ‘badly mobbed’ by the fans at the dinner table in the hotel.
She then responded to him saying, “Tarun, I told you, Tiya and I are close and what you did wasn’t okay, I had to tell her.” The victim was assigned the most important duty of chaperoning the Hollywood star, thereafter left the spot crying.
The 28-year-old woman journalist had confided with Tiya after Tejpal allegedly sexually assaulted her for the second time in the hotel lift on November 8, 2013. In her deposition to a judicial magistrate, the victim said that it was the first time she had spoken to Tiya about the incident even as she feared losing her job.
“At that time, Tiya interrupted her, saying “I saw him do this to a woman when I was 13, so it doesn’t surprise me anymore.”
During an inquiry with Tiya, who is one of 152 witnesses in the case, she had conceded to have discussed the matter with her father.
The victim further said that at 11.26 am at a beach the next day where she was accompanying de Niro and his family, Tejpal sent her Whatsapp message which read, “I hope you told Tiya that it was just a drunken banter and nothing else” to which the victim replied “I told her we were both drunk.” His further messages were not responded to by the victim.
