Zee Media Bureau
Panaji: A Goa court on Saturday extended former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal`s judicial custody by 10 days in the alleged sexual assault case.
After spending Christmas and New Year in a judicial lock up, Tejpal was produced in court here for a bail hearing today.
However, Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Panaji extended the judicial custody of Tejpal by another ten days.
His defence argued that Tejpal should be released on bail because police had not shown any interest in questioning him during his tenure in judicial lock-up.
The prosecution, however, claimed that Tejpal should be in custody until the entire investigation is completed.
The Goa police had sought an extension of Tejpal`s judicial custody by another 14 days.
Tejpal, who was arrested on November 30, 2013, after a junior colleague accused him of sexual assault during a conference held at a Goa resort, has already spent over a month behind bars, both in police as well as judicial custody.
The journalist is presently lodged in Sada sub-jail in the port town of Vasco, 35 km from here, as prisoner number 624.
