Experts to study Tehelka victim’s expressions recorded on CCTV

After getting in possession of the CCTV footage from Grand Hyatt Hotel, Goa, where the journalist was allegedly sexually assaulted by Tarun Tejpal, founder and editor-in-chief of Tehelka magazine, during a fest titled ‘Think’ in early November, Goa police are seeking the help of experts to read the victim’s expressions in the footage.

A source in the Goa police crime branch told Millennium Post that to study the expression of both the victim and Tejpal we are taking the help of some experts present in the investigative team. ‘The expert will watch the CCTV footage frame by frame and whenever the victim will be spotted, the duo officials (male and female cops) will pause the footage to read her body language,’ the source added.

‘Studying expressions of the victim is very important for us as we don’t have any video evidence. But to establish the fact that the girl was assaulted, her immediate reaction in terms of expressions plays an important role to strengthen the charges against Tejpal,’ the source added. He also said that the police have to investigate the case from all possible angles. 

‘If any person is assaulted her expression changes. The victim will either be crying, sad or angry. These expressions could easily be read especially if an expert is watching those gestures,’ the source said explaining the reason for involving experts in the case.

‘Reading the body language and gathering minor information about the expressions of the victim recorded in the footages will help us re-construct the crime sequence,’ he added.

In an email sent to Shoma Chaudhary, managing editor of Tehelka, the victim has alleged that she was sexually assaulted by Tejpal on two different occasions during the fest. In reply to the email that was marked to all the employees of the magazine, Tejpal has apologized for his ‘misconduct’ on 7 and 8 November with the victim. 

During the course of the investigation, Goa police crime branch got hold of the CCTV footages from the hotel. They have been handed over by the hotel management’ a Goa police officer said.

‘We have watched the footages and have spotted both Tejpal and the victim. There was no CCTV camera installed inside the lift where she was allegedly assaulted. Neither were cameras present in the room where Tejpal allegedly assaulted her on the next day,’ an officer in the investigating team said.

‘Apart from the written confrontation made by Tejpal to the victim and other employees through email, we have CCTV footages that will help us in re-constructing the events. A specific camera that was installed outside the lift shows the presence of the duo. Footages from the cameras installed in lobbies, corners, stairs in Block 7 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel are also being looked at,’ Kishan Kumar, director general of police, Panaji, said.