As a special investigation team of Goa Police reached Delhi to question Tarun Tejpal who has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman colleague, conflicting reports emerged in the media of the nature of encounter between the Tehelka founder and the young woman.
Tejpal issued an official statement on Friday offering his "fullest cooperation to the police and all other authorities". In reports that appeared in several media outlets including The Hoot and The Indian Express, Tejpal and his alleged victim faced off indirectly on what exactly happened during the magazine's 'Think' Festival in Goa two weeks ago. Here are some excerpts from the Tehelka letters.
'This is the easiest way for you to keep your job'
The news portal Delhi Durbar reported that in her email to Tehelka Managing Editor Shoma Chaudhury, the young woman wrote Tejpal had sexually assaulted her "at Think on two occasions last week". She accused Tejpal, whom she had known since she was a child, of molesting her in the elevator of a five star hotel on their way back from actor Robert De Niro's hotel suite.
She said she had resisted Tejpal's attempt at sexually assaulting her and reminded him of her friendship with his daughter who happened to be her best friend. The Durbar report said Tejpal allegedly "penetrated" her with his hands and told her "Well, this is the easiest way for you to keep your job."
There has been an untoward incident
Chaudhury, in an internal letter to her colleagues, described the incident as an "untoward incident."
"This may come as a rude surprise to many of you. There is a letter from Tarun appended to this mail. There has been an untoward incident, and though he has extended an unconditional apology to the colleague involved, Tarun will be recusing himself as the editor of Tehelka for the next six months," she wrote.
'I feel impelled to atone further'
Tejpal, in a letter to Chaudhury said he has tendered an unconditional apology for "misconduct to the concerned journalist" but felt impelled to atone further. "Because it involves Tehelka, and a sterling shared legacy, I feel atonement cannot be just words. I must do the penance that lacerates me," he said.
He offered to recuse himself from the editorship of Tehelka, and from the Tehelka office, for the next six months.
'The complete truth vs the honorable thing'
On Friday, in a strongly worded statement, Tejpal responded to allegations of sexual assault levelled against him by saying that "the complete truth and the need to do the honourable thing can come into conflict".
"For four days, as demanded by Shoma Chaudhury, the managing editor, and the recipient of the complaint, I have tried to do what was honorably demanded of me. On Tuesday I issued an apology for the alleged misconduct, as desired by the journalist through Shoma Chaudhury," he said.
He urged the police to obtain, examine and release the CCTV footage so that "the accurate version of events stands clearly revealed."
'Sexual liaison'
In a letter Tejpal addressed to the victim and published by the Indian Express, the Tehelka editor admitted to what he termed as a "sexual liaison" despite the woman's "clear reluctance".
"It wrenches me beyond describing, therefore, to accept that I have violated that long-standing relationship of trust and respect between us and I apologise unconditionally for the shameful lapse of judgement that led me to attempt a sexual liaison with you on two occasions on 7 November and 8 November 2013, despite your clear reluctance that you did not want such attention from me," Tejpal wrote.
Tejpal later told the Express that the "internal letters were demanded and done by Shoma as she insisted on closing a contentious issue through the sought apology". He said his version from first moment was totally different."
'He sexually molested me'
However, the woman journalist responded to Tejpal's statement indicating that the truth was something else other than what she was insinuating. The Express quoted her as telling sources that it wasn't an attempt at sexual liaison but that "he sexually molested me, on two separate occasions and that he violated my bodily integrity and trust."
'Totally consensual encounter'
Tejpal's letter of unconditional apology to the victim differed in tone and text from the one he purportedly sent to his friends. Outlook published excerpts of the letter that said his "actions so far were out of an attempt to preserve the girl's dignity and on Shoma's adamantine feminist-principle insistence that I keep correct form by apologising."
"The truth is it was a fleeting, totally consensual encounter of less than a minute in a lift (of a two-storey building!) Now that a committee has been announced the truth will come out. As will the cctv footage. My life and work have been trashed on a total lie," Tejpal said.
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