Bhubaneswar, Feb. 13: A 30-year-old woman claiming to be the wife of BJD's Talcher MLA Braja Kishore Pradhan today lodged a complaint of sexual harassment against the legislator.

The woman, who works as a librarian at an autonomous college in Cuttack, also accused the 42-year-old of threatening her when she demanded social recognition of their marriage. Deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi said police were verifying the allegations.

"We were married at the Jagannath temple in Puri in April 2015. We have stayed together many times as husband and wife at his government residence in Bhubaneswar. He had maintained a physical relationship with me for more than a year after our marriage," the woman alleged.

The woman alleged that their relationship soured last July after she had come to know about Pradhan's alleged affair with another woman. Pradhan had courted controversy after posters of his purported vulgar conversations with a girl on WhatsApp appeared at several places in Angul town. Subsequently, Pradhan had lodged a complaint and the cops arrested a minor boy in connection.

"Since that incident, he stopped visiting my house at Khurda. I went to his government quarters several times, but he used to send me back. However, he continued to talk to me over phone. Finally, I decided to ask him to recognise our marriage on January 3, but he refused. Despite this, I went to his quarter the next day when his domestic help misbehaved with me," the woman alleged.

The woman claimed that they became friends in December 2014 after she had mistakenly called him on his mobile. "I apologised to him for the call, but he said there was nothing to apologise for. He identified himself as the Talcher legislator, and we became friends. We continued to talk over phone and he convinced me about the marriage. The marriage was solemnised with the consent of both our families," she claimed.

Pradhan, however, denied the allegations and said someone was conspiring to defame him. "The woman had met me in 2014 to seek help after her father's death. As a people's representative, I had helped her. I did not have any other relationship with her," he said.