Tehelka case: Shoma offers to resign, says lawyer friend "backstabbed"

New Delhi, Nov 27: The Tehelka sexual assault case is turning tables with every passing day. The blame game hasn't stopped since the day the news broke out and both Tarun Tejpal, who has been accused of sexually assaulting a female colleague, and Shoma Chaudhary, managing editor of Tehelka, have been changing statements.

Rana Ayyub, an assistant editor with the magazine has resigned

Now what we hear is that Shoma has accused a "lawyer friend" of "backstabbing" her by initially advising her to get an unconditional apology from Tarun Tejpal, and then switching sides.

Tejpal's apology - where he confessed to his misconduct - is a crucial part of the evidence being collected by the Goa police to build their case against him, and Shoma says that it's the lawyer friend who convinced them to do so.

At a meeting with the magazine's editorial team on Monday, Chaudhury also offered to resign if the team wasn't comfortable with her.

Unhappy over the way the magazine has responded to the incident, another Tehelka staffer, Rana Ayyub, an assistant editor with the magazine has resigned. This takes the tally of senior editors who have recently quit to six.

"Shoma told us that after the victim first lodged the complaint she (Shoma) consulted this lawyer who she considered a friend and who had advised the magazine previously on a number of issues. It was on the advice of the lawyer that Chaudhary said she had demanded an apology from Tarun," said a journalist present in the meeting who did not want to be identified.

Chaudhary told her colleagues that she was "backstabbed" by this particular friend who has now switched sides.

After the news of the alleged sexual assault by Tejpal broke out, she has come under heavy criticism for the apology and the in-house probe route instead of seeking a proper police investigation into the complaint.

OneIndia News