‘TERI official approached victim’s friend for out-of-court settlement’
A senior TERI official had asked a male friend of the 29-year-old female researcher who had accused RK Pachauri of sexual harassment for an out-of-court settlement, police told Delhi high court on Thursday, adding that it will file a chargesheet in the next 15 days.
A senior Teri official had asked a male friend of the 29-year-old female researcher who had accused RK Pachauri of sexual harassment for an out-of-court settlement, police told Delhi high court on Thursday, adding that it will file a chargesheet in the next 15 days.
A male researcher had lodged a complaint with the police on January 12 alleging that a senior Teri official had asked him to convince the woman complainant for an out of court settlement.
“Teri director Sanjai Joshi joined investigation and he was interrogated. He stated that he talked with XXX, it was a very casual conversation during his visit to his workstation in Teri. It was stated only to save the image of organisation before the media,” the police said in its report.
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Joshi, however, denied that Pachauri or any other person from Teri asked him to talk to the victim’s for settling the matter with the complainant.
Police also said Teri’s area convener Reena Singh, who was interrogated in her office, has claimed she never spoke about any settlement with the friend and was only giving her comments.
Another Teri senior official Alok Adholeya, who was out of country on an official tour, will be examined after he returns to India, police told the HC.
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The police statement to the HC came a day after another former employee of The Energy and Research Institute (Teri) accused its executive vice-chairman of sexually harassing her and other women in her presence.
The Delhi Police, which was asked to file a status report on the progress of its investigation, told Justice SP Garg that the draft chargesheet was already prepared and was currently being scrutinised by the prosecution branch.
Justice Garg, who reserved the order on plea filed by the complainant seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to Pachauri in March last year, asked police to submit the file related to the case by February 15.
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