NEW DELHI: The woman who filed a sexual harrasment case against TERI DG R K Pachauri has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack him from the green body apart from ensuring that the investigation is carried out in a "free and fair" manner.
"Given the kind of influence and clout the accused enjoys, I feel very apprehensive and fear for how the investigations would unfold. I request you to take cognisance of my circumstances and of the facts so far to ensure that investigation is carried out in a fair and free manner," the woman said in her letter to the Prime Minister.
"It is imperative that the accused should not be holding the highest position in the organisation where more witnesses are yet to depose and the accused can exercise his clout and influence to sabotage other aspects of investigation," she said in her letter written on Friday night.
On February 13 this year, an FIR was registered against 74-year-old Pachauri on charges of sexual harassment levelled by the woman, a senior TERI employee.
On July 23, Pachauri was removed as the Director General of the green body by its governing council on July 23 and replaced with Ajay Mathur, currently DG of Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).
"The decision, as conveyed in a press release to 'replace' R K Pachauri with Ajay Mathur was only an attempt to put at rest the public outcry and media pressure. It is extremely shocking and deeply regretful that Pachauri continues to head the organisation and seems to be there to stay.
"Despite the ICC (Internal Complaints Committee) indictment, it was a white wash of a press release which lauded the efforts of the DG and made no mention of the serious complaint of misconduct at the workplace nor the fact that he was found guilty in the internal inquiry of TERI.
"The guilty has been welcomed back to the organisation with garlands and flowers while I continue to be shunted out of the organisation," she said in the letter.
The woman also said that it was "most unfortunate" to note the "scary silence and inaction" of the Governing Council of the Institute which has the who's who of corporate India.