Court to decide on two of Tejpal's applications

PANAJI: A fast track court is likely to give its order on two applications filed by Tehelka's founder editor Tarun Tejpal on May 3.

In one application, Tejpal, who is accused of allegedly raping a young journalist, has asked for materials which form part of the chargesheet, while another application seeks action for revealing the identity of the survivor in the chargesheet filed by the investigating officer.

The matter came up for hearing before the fast track court judge Vijaya Pol.

Referring to the material sought by the applicant, public prosecutor Francisco Tavora revealed before the court that 'WhatsApp' messages are not part of the chargesheet, so also not all the smses.

Regarding the unedited CCTV footage sought by Tejpal, Tavora mentioned that only the video recording that is relevant to the incident is vital and not other recordings. Tejpal's counsel Rajiv Gomes objected saying they have not been given a written reply to their application seeking copies of the recordings and other materials included in the chargesheet.

Gomes said that since materials are part of the chargesheet, an oral statement does not hold good. He sought written submissions from the prosecution instead of oral statements.