Author: Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
Publication: Firstpost.com
Date: March 12, 2014
URL: http://www.firstpost.com/india/exclusive-tejpal-called-business-partner-from-goa-prison-1431021.html

Former editor-in-chief of Tehelka Tarun Tejpal called two Delhi mobile numbers with regularity from his prison cell, before a surprise raid last month put an end to these phone conversations, an investigation report prepared by prison authorities claims.

Firstpost has seen the report which was submitted to the Margao district and session court earlier today.

The Court is hearing a complaint filed against Tejpal and several other inmates of the Sada sub jail, located 30 kms from Panaji, where the former editor is incarcerated after being booked for allegedly raping a junior colleague at a Goa resort in November last year.

The report claims that Tejpal called a mobile number registered to one Sheela Lunkad in Gurgaon as well as one Manjiri, in Saket, Delhi.

Tejpal allegedly made the phone call from mobile number 7350533170,which is registered in the name of one Thereza D'Souza, who has been shown as a resident of Taleiao, a Panaji suburb. The report also lists several numbers, which Tejpal had dialed on several occasions during his stay in prison.

Sheela Lunkad is one of the four directors of Chestnut Heights Resorts private limited along with Tejpal, his wife Geetan Batra Tejpal and Rajeev Lunkad.

"The probe will now involve calling the persons who were in touch with Tejpal over the phone. How Tejpal managed to get a mobile phone into his cell is also being probed," an official connected with the investigation said.

Authorities have already written to service providers seeking the contact details and addresses of the persons Tejpal was in touch with from his prison cell.

The probe also covers two others, one Clinton Swami, who has been booked for possession of a narcotics charge and Michael Nzube, a Nigerian who was booked for murder in 2012.

According to district administration officials who conducted the raid, a SIM card was found in Tejpal's shirt collar during a surprise raid on 23 February. Following the raid, the journalist was booked under sections 120 (b), 130 and 188 IPC and violation of other sections of the Prison Act.

Tejpal has vehemently denied ownership of the phone and SIM card.

Chief minister Manohar Parrikar said that the raid on Tejpal's cell had been conducted after his government received tip-offs from journalists in Delhi, who claimed that Tejpal was speaking to journalists and others in the capital every morning.