THIRD WOMAN ACCUSES EX-TERI CHIEF PACHAURI OF HARASSMENT

NEW DELHI: A third woman and a former employee of Teri has accused environmentalist RK Pachauri of sexual harassment. The complainant, who is European, claims she faced harassent while working as his secretary at the environment think tank in 2008.

Pachauri, 75, facing similar charges from two other women who worked at The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri), refused to comment. His lawyer called it a conspiracy to defame his client.

The latest scandal emerged after the woman, whose nationality has not been revealed, released a statement to the media through her lawyer Vrinda Grover. She reportedly wrote to Grover in February 2015 after she came to know of an FIR against Pachauri in one of the earlier cases.

“I remember that in the third week of February 2015, I read some news reports that said an employee of Teri had filed a criminal complaint against RK Pachauri for sexually harassing her. On reading these reports, I was 0 per cent surprised. I can very much relate to what the other woman wrote in her statement,” read the statement.

She was 19 at the time, she said, and noticed a “big difference” in the way Pachauri behaved with her and with Indian men with whom he maintained a “polite distance”.

CONTINUED ON P11

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