Tehelka case: Victim, witnesses resign

The sexual assault victim and two other employees, also witnesses in the case against Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal, resigned on Monday, sources said.

Sources said the victim from Mumbai sent her resignation letter through e-mail to managing editor Shoma Chaudhury. The two witnesses Shougat Dasgupta and Ishan Tankha, questioned by the Goa Police Sunday at Goa Sadan have also put in their papers.

Goa Police camped in Delhi for two days and collected Chaudhury's computer Central Processing Unit (CPU), laptop and iPad along with Tejpal's computer CPU. They also seized the joining and transfer letters of the victim. The team returned to Goa Sunday afternoon.

The young Tehelka journalist, in her complaint to Chaudhury, said Tejpal sexually assaulted her twice in the Goa's Club House section elevator of the five-star Grand Hyatt resort during the news magazine's high-profile ThinkFest conference earlier this month.

The matter came to light after intra-office communication between Tejpal, Chaudhury and the woman was leaked to the media last week. Chaudhury too has been accused of trying to hush up the matter.

Tejpal, in a statement released Friday, requested investigators to "examine and release the CCTV footage so the accurate version of events stands clearly revealed".