Tejpal to SC: Informant cannot be investigator in case against him

Tehelka magazine’s founder Tarun Tejpal, accused in a case of alleged rape lodged by a former woman colleague, on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that the police officer who was investigating the case against him was also the informant.

A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan was told by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Tejpal, that the apex court had recently ruled that informant and investigator cannot be the same person.

The bench said it will go through the verdict delivered on August 16, which said that “justice must not only be done, but must appear to be done also. Any possibility of bias or a predetermined conclusion has to be excluded”.

It adjourned the matter for further hearing for next week.

The verdict delivered by a bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi had held that “a fair investigation, which is but the very foundation of fair trial, necessarily postulates that the informant and the investigator must not be the same person”.

On April 9, the apex court had directed a Goa court to complete the trial against Tejpal within a year.

Tejpal had challenged the Bombay High Court’s December 20, 2017 order dismissing his plea for quashing of rape charges.