Bhubaneswar, April 24: Mahila police detained the business head (Odisha zone) of a private telecommunication infrastructure and tower provider on charges of molestation.

The accused, Ashutosh Bajaj, who hailed from Haryana, allegedly tried to molest a woman employee of an electrical appliance provider company based in Cuttack this afternoon.

The complainant, a 24-year-old woman, who is the payment recovery manager of the Mahanadi Vihar-based electrical appliance provider company, alleged that the Bhubaneswar-based telecom company had a due of around Rs 1 crore. Despite intimating the matter several times, the business head was not paying any attention.

Today, the accused called the payment recovery manager to the Bhubaneswar office. There he tried to molest her while there were none in the office canteen. “I shouted for help and ran out of the office. I rushed to Kharavela Nagar police station and they asked me to lodge a complaint with Mahila police,” she said.

The police have detained the accused. In the evening, Mahila police officials did a spot verification of the accused’s office with the victim.

In another development, an official of the telecom company said the matter was fabricated. “There was a dispute over payment issue. The Cuttack-based company had executed poor work, leading to the dispute. Bajaj has been transferred to Jammu and Kashmir zone of the company. But before this, he was implicated,” said an official.

“We have received a complaint regarding molestation,” said inspector in charge of Mahila police station Sarojini Nayak.

In another case, a 35-year-old woman employee of a private IT company lodged a case of sexual harassment by one of her senior colleagues with Mahila police two days ago. The victim said she had lodged a complaint with the State Commission for Women chairperson in last November, but it failed to deliver justice.

The woman’s husband, who teaches in a management college in the city, said that after the commission had failed to deliver justice to them, they were forced to lodge a police complaint. “As my wife’s employer is an influential person, the police are also delaying to register the case,” alleged the husband.

The inspector said she had got the complaint and the police were inquiring into the matter.

“We have sought report from the IT company ,” she said.