Tejpal's bail plea: Court begins in-camera proceedings

, Mar 4: The Bombay High Court today began in-camera hearing on the bail petition of

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, accused of sexually assaulting a woman colleague in a lift of a star hotel here.

The single bench of justice U V Bakre here agreed for the in-camera hearing of the case after both prosecution and defence lawyers unanimously opined that a lot has been written about this case in the media already. The court took up the case around 10.30 AM and began the hearing in-camera.

The 50-year-old journalist has been behind bars for allegedly raping a junior woman colleague during Tehelka's Thinkfest in Goa in November last year. He sought bail after Goa Crime branch filed a charge sheet against Tejpal for rape, outraging modesty and sexual harassment of the woman journalist.

On February 18, the Goa bench, refusing to give any immediate relief to Tejpal had posted the matter for today and asked the prosecution to table the copy of the charge sheet filed against him. Tejpal is presently lodged in Sada sub-jail in Vasco, 35 kms from here.

PTI