New Delhi, Nov 26 (IANS): After Goa Police opposition, the Delhi High Court Tuesday turned down the anticipatory bail plea of Tarun Tejpal, the founder and editor-in-chief of Tehelka news magazine, in a case of sexually assaulting a junior journalist, and asked police to file a reply by Wednesday.

Justice Sunita Gupta directed Goa Police to file a reply on Tejpal's anticipatory bail application by Wednesday.

Goa Police, opposing the bail, said the matter is serious in nature.

Appearing for Tejpal, advocate Geeta Luthra requested the court to pass an order granting him protection from apprehension till police filed its reply.

The court did not accept her plea.

The woman journalist, in her complaint to the magazine's managing editor Shoma Chaudhury, had said that Tejpal sexually assaulted her twice in the elevator in the Club House section of the Grand Hyatt five-star resort in Panaji during the high-profile ThinkFest conference earlier in this month.

Tejpal in a statement released Friday requested the investigators to "examine and release the CCTV footage so that the accurate version of events stands clearly revealed".

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