Bhubaneswar, Jan. 8: A 27-year-old contractual employee of Pathani Samanta Planetarium today brought allegations of sexual harassment against an engineer working there.

The woman, who had been employed at the planetarium through a third party, also alleged inaction on her complaint by the science and technology department.

The victim, who had started working at the planetarium in September last year, alleged that engineer Jaydev Kar, 53, had been harassing her mentally and physically.

"He used to call me to the office during holidays and ask me to work from his chamber. While I used to do my work, he used to sit beside me and touch me inappropriately," she said.

The woman alleged that after she resisted the advances made by Kar, the engineer forced her employer to ask her to leave the job.

"My employer called me on December 17 and asked me to leave the job saying that the engineer did not want me to work there. My employers forced me to resign, saying that they did not want to sour their relationship with the planetarium staff," she said.

The victim then lodged a complaint with the officials of the science and technology department.

"I met officials of the department on December 19 and submitted a complaint. But instead of taking my allegations seriously, the authorities told me that they have full faith in the engineer who had been working there for 23 years. After being denied justice there, I finally decided to take the help of police," said the victim.

Sources said that Kar had been arrested in March 2013 on similar charges.

The victim alleged that a few other contractual employees had to leave their jobs earlier after they resisted the advances made by Kar.

"When the employees refused to give in to Kar's advances, they were forced by their employers to leave their jobs. Stringent action should be taken against the engineer," she said.

The police have registered a case against Kar under sections 354 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code.

"We have started an investigation to verify the allegation made by the woman," said deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi.

Despite several attempts by The Telegraph, the engineer and officials of science and technology department refused to comment.