The head of United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is being investigated by Indian police for allegedly sexually harassing a subordinate.
Rajendra Pachauri, who is also the author of a steamy romance novel, has been accused by a female subordinate at the Energy and Resources Institute where Pachauri serves as the director-general.
In a 33-page complaint, the female alleges that Pachauri engaged in “unwanted physical advances as well as emails, text, and WhatsApp messages,” reports The Times of India. Pachauri persisted despite attempts by the complainant to get him to stop.
The story was first reported by the Economic Times on Feb. 18, but the article was quickly pulled after an Indian high court issued an injunction late Tuesday night. The Times of India and other media outlets picked up the story on Feb. 19.
Pachauri denied the sexual harassment allegations, saying his computer was hacked. Pachauri said he only became aware of the “misuse of his computer resources” after being questioned by the media. Pachauri told The Economic Times:
The said email has indicated misuse of my computer resources and communication devices, without my permission or consent. From your email, I have come to know the factum that my computer resources including my email ids, mobile phone and WhatsApp messages have been hacked and that unknown cyber criminals have gone ahead and have unauthorisedly accessed my computer resources and communication devices and further committed various criminal activities.
Pachauri also demanded that no more stories be published on the sexual harassment charges until the police had concluded the investigation.
“The entire computer outputs on the basis of which the said complaint has been filed and on the basis of which your questions are raised are completely false, fabricated, forged and manipulated,” Pachauri said. “Your questions have no connection with truth.”
The IPCC is the U.N.’s climate science arm, responsible for putting out major reports synthesizing the latest reports and data on global warming. Pachauri has headed the body since 2002. The 75-year-old Indian headed the IPCC when it received the Nobel Peace Prize along with Al Gore in 2007 for its work on global warming.
But Pachauri is also the author of a 2010 steamy romance novel about an Indian climate scientist who travels the world having sex with lots of women — but it’s totally not based on his own fantasies or anything.
The book, which makes reference to the Kama Sutra, starts promisingly enough as it tells the story of a climate expert with a lament for the denuded mountain slopes of Nainital, in northern India, where deforestation by the timber mafia and politicians has ‘endangered the fragile ecosystem.’
By page 16 of the book, the reader is already seeing the main character’s first sexual rendezvous with a woman in a hotel — climate scientists are apparently the academic equivalents of James Bond:
She removed her gown, slipped off her nightie and slid under the quilt on his bed… Sanjay put his arms around her and kissed her, first with quick caresses and then the kisses becoming longer and more passionate. May slipped his clothes off one by one, removing her lips from his for no more than a second or two.
Afterwards she held him close. ‘Sandy, I’ve learned something for the first time today. You are absolutely superb after meditation. Why don’t we make love every time immediately after you have meditated?’
More follows, including Sanjay and friends queuing to have sexual encounters with Sajni, an impoverished but willing local,” the Telegraph reports, adding a quote from another steamy encounter with an impoverished and desperate girl.
He enjoyed the sensation of gently pushing Susan’s shoulders back a few inches, an action that served to lift her breasts even higher. He was excited by the sight of her heaving breasts, as she breathed in and out deeply.
This report, by Michael Bastasch, was cross-posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
