Tarun Tejpal stepped down as Tehelka editor-in-chief following charges of sexual assault (File pic)
Tarun Tejpal, who has stepped down as Tehelka editor-in-chief following charges of sexual assault leveled against him by a young woman journalist, said today that he will cooperate with the police and urged them to release CCTV footage of the alleged incident, "so that the accurate version of events stands clearly revealed."
The statement, his first since the scandal broke, came even as the Goa police booked the senior journalist and author on charges of rape.
"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," Mr Tejpal said, alleging a "conflict" between "the complete truth and the need to do the honourable thing."
(Read full statement)Mr Tejpal recorded that he had apologised for what he called the "alleged misconduct" as sought by the young journalist and also stepped down as editor and vacated office premises.
The journalist, who works at Tehelka, has alleged that Mr Tejpal molested her twice during an event organised by the magazine in Goa earlier this month. She made her complaint in an email to Ms Chaudhury on Monday, but has not filed a police case.
Mr Tejpal had earlier this week written to Ms Chaudhury conveying his decision to "recuse" himself from his office for six months as "lacerating penance." His email was titled "atonement" and has been slammed by activists and others as lacking in contrition and seeming to decide on his own punishment.
Ms Chaudhury too has faced searing criticism for failing to inform the police that her boss had been accused of sexual assault by the young colleague.
Today she said that though Mr Tejpal's version of what happened in Goa differed from that of the journalist's, she had asked him to render an unconditional apology to the woman.
(Not my place to go to police, Tehelka's Shoma Chaudhury tells NDTV)