Shakuntala Tejpal,  Tehelka founder editor Tarun Tejpal's mother, passed away after an illness, his lawyer said on Monday. She was 87.

She was suffering from brain tumour and was living at Tejpal's residence at Moira in North Goa.

"She expired last evening at Tejpal's Goa residence. The decision is yet to be taken whether the final rites would be conducted in Goa or Delhi," Tejpal's lawyer Sandip Kapoor informed scribes, adding that the family members will decide on cremation.

She had been receiving treatment at a hospital in Mapusa but was later discharged.

Tejpal's pleader decided to move the fast track court in Panaji seeking permission to permit him to perform the final rites of his mother.

"We are going to move the court now. We heard the news about the demise last night around 9 PM," another advocate for Tejpal, Raunak Rav said.

The court had earlier on two occasions granted permission to Tejpal to meet his ailing mother, once in the hospital at Mapusa town and the second time at his residence in Goa.

Tejpal is booked for allegedly raping his woman colleague during an event in the state and has been lodged in jail since November 30 last year, after his anticipatory bail was rejected by a local court.