PANAJI (India): Indian news magazine editor Tarun Tejpal was remanded in custody on Sunday after appearing in court on allegations of sexually assaulting a colleague in a hotel in the holiday state of Goa.

A court in Goa ordered Tejpal remain in custody to allow police time to question the 50-year-old editor, who faces a possible rape charge over the allegations that could see him in jail for 10 years.

“The police had asked for 14 days’ remand but after hearing our arguments, the court gave them six days of custody,” Tejpal’s lawyer Sandip Kapoor told reporters outside the court in Panaji, the capital of Goa.

Tejpal, the founder of top investigative magazine Tehelka, was arrested late Saturday after earlier flying into the state and pledging to cooperate with police over the allegations.

The editor, whose magazine is responsible for some of India’s hardest-hitting undercover journalism, did not apply for bail on Sunday, after earlier being refused, and has denied the allegations.

The woman, who has quit the magazine since the scandal broke, has told police her former employer molested her twice in a hotel elevator during a magazine-sponsored event in the seaside holiday hotspot last month.

Police have filed an initial case against Tejpal under sections of the criminal code including rape.—AFP