An artist's impression of Tarun Tejpal. Image Credit: Nino Jose Heredia/Gulf News
In March 2000, the cricketing fraternity in India and just about everyone following the sport in the country were left shocked and hurt. The inaugural edition of an online news magazine called Tehelka, through its sting operations, had blown the lid off the slimy, duplicitous and dark realm of betting and match-fixing that was shown to be a part and parcel of the most popular sport in the country, involving some of the most prominent personalities associated with the game. Tehelka was off the blocks with a bang and one of its co-founders, Tarun J. Tejpal, hit instant stardom.
Jump cut to November 2013, the same Tejpal was back in news and how! He announced his decision to step down as the editor of Tehelka, after one of his junior colleagues accused him of rape in an elevator at a five-star hotel in Goa.
Currently out on bail, 53-year-old Tejpal has been through some harrowing time over the last couple of years — right from trial by the media to sharing that washroom with half a dozen other inmates at the detention cell for seven months. The allegation against Tejpal by one of his co-workers created a huge uproar in media circles and among the public.
The celebrated journalist, apart from stepping down from his job citing “penance that lacerates me”, insisted that whatever had happened inside that elevator was “consensual”. In court, his lawyers have highlighted a host of motives, ranging from personal vendetta to a political conspiracy.
Be that as it may, for a high-profile journalist such as Tejpal, who also happens to be quite an accomplished writer-publisher, there is no doubt that the incident will continue to be a blotch on an otherwise scintillating CV — until he clears himself of all charges.
Fortunately for Tejpal, all through the current controversy, his wife Geetan and their two daughters, Tiya and Cara, have stood by him like a rock. Right from coordinating with their legal team in Goa and in New Delhi to making sure Tejpal has all the emotional support he needs, his family has been a source of immense strength at the worst of times.
But when one comes to think of this entire episode, notwithstanding the fact that the matter is still subjudice, one cannot but wonder as to why and how could someone as well-connected, well-educated and financially well-placed such as Tejpal get into a mess like this in the first place? He had everything going for him — as a professional, entrepreneur, socialite and a family man.
Having an armyman as a father, Tejpal’s upbringing was steeped in all the virtues of discipline and propriety that a serviceman’s household would usually extend to its younger generation.
Tejpal graduated in Economics from Punjab University in Chandigarh and started his career as a journalist with the “Indian Express” newspaper in New Delhi. Later, he moved on to senior positions with the “India Today” magazine, the “Financial Express” and helped launch the “Outlook” weekly news magazine as its managing editor.
Even as his career in journalism sky-rocketed, Tejpal the entrepreneur was gradually taking shape as he started his own publishing company, called India Ink, which rose to fame with its rights for Arundhati Roy’s Booker Prize-winning novel, “The God of Small Things”, in 1998.
As an author too, Tejpal carved a niche for himself with titles such as “The Alchemy of Desire”, his debut novel, “The Valley of Masks” and “The Story of My Assassins” earning him rave reviews from literary circles in India and abroad. Both as a journalist par excellence and an author, Tejpal won a slew of awards. He was presented with the Award for Excellence in Journalism by the International Press Institute’s India Chapter. In 2001, the “Business Week” magazine named him among the “50 Leaders at the Forefront of Change in Asia”, while in 2009, the same magazine categorised him among “India’s 50 Most Powerful People”. In 2006, the “Guardian” hailed him as a “pioneer of a brand of sting journalism, which has transformed Indian media”.
However, nothing made as big a splash in his career as the launch of the online news magazine Tehelka in 2000. As Tehelka’s sensational exposé on sleaze in the world of cricket was discussed in boardrooms and drawing rooms across India and beyond, Tejpal became the most sought-after name in media circles. With that one story, the online traffic for Tehelka, which literally means sensation, reached dizzy heights and Tejpal had very effectively whetted the audience’s appetite for more such investigative reportage that would expose the dark underbelly of Indian society like never before.
The exposé on Indian cricket was followed up by an equally engrossing whistle-blowing act in 2001, which was termed Operation West End, exposing the murky nature of defence deals in India and the involvement of people in high places in the political establishment, including Bangaru Laxman, the then president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Interestingly, after his arrest and during a chat with his younger daughter Cara, Tejpal reportedly said, alluding to the woman who had accused him of raping her: “She may not have intended to, but what she has done is that she has delivered me to the right wing. That is what she has done ...”
A chargesheet in the case was filed in February 2014, but the judicial procedure is currently stuck as the Goa Police is yet to hand over Tejpal a “clone copy” of the data recovered from his mobile phone and laptop as part of the forensics inquiry.
Meanwhile, Tejpal has finished writing two books, one on the urgent need for reforms in Indian jails and the other reportedly based on his own life. And according to “Mumbai Mirror”, both the manuscripts have generated quite a bit of interest among prospective publishers, despite Tejpal quoting an astronomical figure for publishing rights.
Tejpal has repeatedly asked for footage from the CCTV camera inside the hotel elevator, where the alleged incident of rape took place. “The video footage will exonerate me. What kind of a rapist will ask for video footage?” Tejpal reportedly said in self-defence. To which, someone from prosecution told “Outlook” magazine: “He demanded footage of the CCTV inside the elevator. Why? Because he knew there was no such footage.”
Guilt-and-atonement, transgression-and-punishment, genuine charges-or-fabrications ... the debate still rages and will perhaps continue even after the verdict. But for Tejpal, this is one “tehelka” he could certainly have done without.
