“I don’t think that would be a deciding factor in determining if YOUR actions were halachically correct.”
“No. But it may be a deciding factor whether I need to ask him mechilah.”
Possibly, but not necessarily.
For one thing, if you acted incorrectedly, I would think that you might still be requird to ask him mechila.
Second of all, you would certainly still need to do teshuva.
Third of all, I’m not sure that he fact that he asked mechila proves that he was wrong. Sometimes people ask mechila even when they are not wrong.
Fourth of all, you don’t have first-hand knowledge that he apologized (or at least that was my impression), so perhaps you are not allowed to be “mekabel” the fact that he apologized especially if you see that as proof that he really was guilty. If it’s proof that he’s guilty, then perhaps it was loshon hora in which case you would not be able to be mekabel, even if it fulfilled the toeles requirements.
Please note: I trust it is clear to you that I am not writing any of this to make you feel bad. It is quite possible that there was no issue of LH here and what you did was in fact a very big Mitzvah. I am just raising the possible issues involved.
In any case, you certainly don’t need to feel bad. Your intentions were certainly very admirable, and you did something that sounds like it was very difficult for you just because you were considered about kavod HaTorah, and it is very admirable that you are analyzing your actions to this extent, especially since most people probably wouldn’t even have thought of the fact that there could have been a problem of kabbalas LH involved.