New Delhi: In more embarrassment for former Teri boss RK Pachauri, a European woman who claimed to be his former secretary, has now accused him of sexual harassment, after two women who worked at the environment think tank leveled similar charges against him.
In a letter to a well known advocate Vrinda Grover, who is representing the complainant in the sexual harassment case against the eminent environmentalist, the woman said she had worked at The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri) as Pachauri's secretary in 2008. She had contacted Grover in February 2015 after she came to know of an FIR against Pachauri in a sexual harassment case.
When contacted, Pachauri refused to comment but his lawyer Ashish Dixit termed it as a "conspiracy" to defame his client and questioned why every time such a case came up it was Grover who gave statements and there were no police complaints.
Read: Sexual harassment case: Pachauri sent 6,000 'love' messages to colleague
Grover sent to media houses the statment of the woman who said, "I remember that in the third week of February 2015, I had read some news reports which said that an employee of Teri had filed a criminal complaint against RK Pachauri for sexually harassing her.
"On reading these news reports, I was 0 per cent surprised. I can very much relate to what the other women wrote in her statement."
The woman, who claimed she was 19 when Pachauri harassed her, will be represented by Grover and another lawyer Ratna Appnender.
Appnender said that although the police were informed about the statement and told that the woman was ready to present herself before them, they did not make any effort to contact her.
The woman, whose exact nationality was not revealed, said she noticed a "big difference" in the way Pachauri behaved with her and Indian men with whom he maintained a "polite distance".
Read: Delhi Police files chargesheet against RK Pachauri for sexual harassment
When contacted, Pachauri said, "Please talk to my lawyer Ashish Dikshit. My lawyer will speak on the subject."
Dixit said, "It is a conspiracy by Vrinda Grover to defame Pachauri. Everytime a woman is said to make allegations, it is only to press, not to police or court.
"Why is that every woman comes and reports to Vrinda Grover. There is some conspiracy. It only happens when there is some court hearing. There is a matter coming up. To prejudice the judges these types of reports are aired," he said.
"The serious question is why every girl who has no identity approaches Grover and she is the one who gives statement to media. Is there no police or no court," he said.
