In the soon-to-be-filed charge sheet in a >sexual harassment case against R.K. Pachauri, executive vice-chairman of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), investigators have documented text messages exchanged between him and the victim to buttress her allegations.
The charge sheet, running into 500 pages, is expected to be filed in the next few days, police sources said.
Police have collated 6,000 SMSes and WhatsApp messages between the woman, a former TERI employee, and Pachauri in the 17 months from September 2013 to February 2015.
A police officer said there were exchanges in which the victim had objected to some of the ‘suggestive’ content sent to her.
Police rebut claim of phone hacking
In their charge sheet against Pachauri, the police have rebutted his claim that the messages from his mobile phone to the victim were not actually sent by him, and that the device was hacked.
“However, because the nature of conversation is continuous, such a claim doesn’t hold water. We will include forensic evidence in the supplementary charge sheet,” a police officer said.
The police filed the case of sexual harassment in February last year under Sections 354A (physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures), 354D (whoever follows a person and contacts, or attempts to contact such person to foster personal interaction repeatedly), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
In her statement to the police, the victim, a former TERI employee, alleged that on multiple occasions, Mr. Pachauri had groped her and forcibly kissed her despite her opposition and she was subjected to such harassment at her workplace and even outside.
