Odisha AYUSH director held on sexual harassment charges: Police

A top official of the AYUSH Directorate in Odisha was arrested on Thursday for allegedly sexually harassing a contractual woman employee of his office, police said.

The Mahila Police arrested Bibhu Prasad Sarangi, the Odisha AYUSH director, on the complaint of the woman, who submitted evidence in support of her allegation, they said.

Sarangi was arrested following a marathon interrogation at the Mahila Police Station here.

"The allegation against me is false and fabricated. The woman along with her male friend hatched a conspiracy against me," Sarangi told reporters.

The Mahila Police had on July 6 registered a case against Sarangi.

In her complaint, the woman alleged that for the last three months, the official had been pressuring her to have a relationship with him.

Sarangi was also accused of sending obscene text messages and objectionable videos to the woman. She had submitted the evidence of the messages sent to her, a police officer said.

The official was arrested under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67 (punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act, the police said.

Sarangi had also filed a counter FIR at the Capital Police station and alleged that the contractual appointment of the complainant was found illegal during a recent inquiry.

In his FIR, Sarangi mentioned that the woman had lodged a complaint against him after the Directorate of AYUSH served a notice seeking clarification regarding "illegal" appointment of the contractual employee.