Panaji, March 14 (IANS): A court here Friday granted Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal permission to meet his ailing mother.

The north Goa district and sessions court heard the 50-year-old journalist's plea in which he said his mother, Shakuntala, has been admitted to a hospital in Mapusa town, 15 km from here, and was suffering from a terminal disease.

Tejpal's bail hearing will come up later in the day. The former editor is expected to write to the jailor of Sada sub-jail, where he is an inmate, for formal permission to visit his ailing mother.

Tejpal has already spent over three months in police and judicial custody since his arrest Nov 30.

A junior colleague had accused Tejpal of rape during ThinkFest, a high-profile conference organised by the Tehelka founder in Goa which was attended by Hollywood star Robert de Niro.

The victim claimed that she was sexually assaulted twice Nov 7 and 8.

Tejpal is at present lodged in Sada sub-jail located in Vasco, 35 km from here.