Thursday, Jun 27, 2002
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By J. Venkatesan
The Tehelka chief, Tarun Tejpal (right), and his colleague, Aniruddh Behal, addressing mediapersons in New Delhi on Wednesday. — Photo: Sandeep Saxena
The portal, which hit the headlines earlier for its expose of "corrupt defence deals", termed the raids "vindictive". However, the CBI denied the allegation and its spokesperson, S.M. Khan, told presspersons that the raids were conducted after investigation showed Mr. Badal had "close links" with two poachers, who had confessed that he had given them Rs. 15,000 and a camera for filming the poaching of leopards in the Shivalik forest division. Mr. Khan said the Uttar Pradesh police had registered a case in the Bihari Garh police station on May 23. Besides the camera, contraband wildlife items and two 12-bore guns along with ammunition had been recovered. When the investigating officer found that the case had inter-State ramifications, he recommended handing over the investigation to the CBI. Accordingly a notification was issued by the Uttar Pradesh Government for transferring the case to the CBI, which registered a case on June 3 under Sections 9, 49, 49-A and 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act and Sec. 120 B (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. Mr. Khan maintained that the raids had nothing to do with the operations of the portal and that it pertained only to the case registered against the poachers and the reporter, who was an employee of Tehelka. There was no restriction on the movement of the Editor-in-Chief of the portal, Tarun Tejpal, and he had been told that he was free to go anywhere he wanted to. Mr. Khan refuted the allegation that the CBI was carrying out a "witch-hunt" and said there was no connection between the raids and the proceedings before the Justice Venkataswami Commission. The searches had been carried out only after substantive evidence had been collected against the reporter on his links with the poachers. Earlier, Mr. Tejpal told a news agency: "I don't know why they are raiding my office, but one should take note of the timing because I was to appear before the Justice Venkataswami Commission along with Jaya Jaitly.'' He alleged that the Government had been harassing him and his team of reporters after they had exposed "corruption in high places". Mr. Khan said the poachers had sent three video cassettes to Mr. Badal. Documents seized from Mr. Badal's residence revealed that he had been operating under the name of "Pankaj". The poachers, Inam and Meherban, had told the CBI that they had been working for Pankaj. A mobile phone used by the poachers to contact Pankaj had been seized and it was registered in the name of Buffalo Networks Pvt. Ltd., holding company of Tehelka. Asked whether Mr. Badal had been arrested, Mr. Khan said he had been declared absconding and a lookout notice issued. The Congress condemned the raids, saying they reflected the attitude of the Government which wanted to stifle the freedom of the Press. Its spokesman, Oscar Fernandes, said that at a time when the Venkataswami Commission was conducting proceedings relating to the Tehelka expose, such raids were condemnable.
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