MAPUSA
The long-drawn court trial may have ended with a victory for Tarun Tejpal, the beleaguered former editor-in-chief of Tehelka, but it also came with a price after his lead counsel Rajiv Gomes passed away losing the battle against Covid.
Tejpal made no bones about the bond he shared with his lead lawyer and described him as a “dynamic and brilliant” criminal lawyer.
“Seldom does a long-fought battle for vindication arrive hand in hand with profound heartbreak. Last week, my trial lawyer Rajiv Gomes, died of Covid. Dynamic and brilliant, at 47, he was on the brink of a scintillating career as a criminal lawyer at the national level,” Tejpal said in a written statement.
“No person fought harder, and with greater skill, to reclaim my life and reputation. Rajiv used to say to me, ‘I enjoy money, but I don’t work for it. I believe God put me on earth to fight for the innocent’,” he added.
Soon after the court process ended on Friday, Tejpal along with his family members visited the Margao cemetery and paid homage to late Rajiv Gomes.
“As a family, we owe Rajiv Gomes a profound and permanent debt. And we grieve alongside his wife Cheryl and his young son Sean. No client can ever hope for a better lawyer than Rajiv. The ever-struggling wheel of justice has lost a solid spoke,” the former editor said.
Thanking the court for passing a fair and just judgement, late Rajiv Gomes’ son Sean Gomes said it would have been wonderful if his late father was personally here to claim the victory.
“My father had put a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication into this case. The final written arguments consisted of 600-plus pages, which showed the amount of workload he put in,” said Sean, while speaking to the media outside the Mapusa court.
