Teri’s newly appointed executive vice-chairman RK Pachauri, accused of sexually harassing a former colleague, has told the Delhi high court that he “never exercised any pressure upon Teri and its officials”.
The environmentalist refuted the claim of the victim that he exercised influence over Teri officials to settle the sexual harassment case lodged against him.
In his affidavit, he said the allegations made by the complainant were “incorrect”, “misleading” and a “figment of imagination” of the woman and her counsel.
“The answering respondent (Pachauri) has never exercised any pressure upon Teri and its officials,” said the affidavit filed by Pachauri.
Last month, the 29-year-old female research analyst, who has now quit the organisation, had accused Pachauri of instructing one of her colleagues to persuade her for an out-of-court settlement.
Read: Despite sexual assault charge, Pachauri made executive VC of TERI
However, Pachauri denied the allegation, saying, “The petitioner (complainant) has made an attempt to mislead this court by portraying that the news report says that Pachauri instructed the ex-colleague of the petitioner to get the matter settled. This is a blatant lie.”
{{/usCountry}}However, Pachauri denied the allegation, saying, “The petitioner (complainant) has made an attempt to mislead this court by portraying that the news report says that Pachauri instructed the ex-colleague of the petitioner to get the matter settled. This is a blatant lie.”
{{/usCountry}}“It is incorrect that there is any written complaint against Pachauri... The counsel for the petitioner has deliberately made false averments in order to sensationalise the whole issue,” added the affidavit.
The high court is likely to consider Pachauri’s application on Thursday.
Read: Pressure mounts on Pachauri as 2nd victim emerges, students protest