New Delhi, Aug 30: Tehelka chief executive Tarun Tejpal and two of its journalists, in reply to two defamation suits in the Delhi High Court, have maintained the "harassment and persecution" caused to them would not deter them from the belief that the operation 'west end' was carried out in public interest to unravel corruption in defence deals.
"Despite the immense harassment and persecution they face today, they continue to believe that it is in paramount public interest that the truth is unrevealed, whatever the cost," Tejpal and his two colleagues Anirudh Bahal and Samuel Mathew in their joint reply to the suits said. Additional Director General, ordnance services, Major General M S Ahluwalia and alleged middleman R K Gupta whose names figured in the tehelka tapes, have filed defamation suits against the news portal and its three journalists, claiming damages of Rs two crore and Rs 50 lakh respectively.
Ahluwalia has also made Zee TV and its chief executive Subhas Chandra as defendents alleging that the network by telecasting the tapes containing "baseless charges" against him had caused immense damage to his reputation.
In reply to the suits, filed by tehelka and its journalists, their counsel meet Malhotra said "The exercise undertaken by them was with fair objective, bonafide, in public interest and in legitimate exercise of the freedom of expression as available to the press in the country."


The news portal said it had "immediately owned very minor inaccuracies" in the transcriptions of the tapes "as and where they have occured."

Bureau Report