Bhubaneswar, June 15: Police today started an investigation into charges of sexual harassment levelled against Mangala Prasad Mohanty, who is the secretary of the Indian Red Cross here.

Three women employees of the organisation’s Odisha chapter had filed complaint against Mohanty with the Kharavela Nagar police. The police have registered a case against Mohanty. Accusing Mohanty of harassing them, one of the complainants said: “He has been abusing me and using double meaning words. When I opposed, he threatened to take my job and has been forcing me to remain in the office till 11pm.”

She also said that Mohanty had been threatening her after she lodged a complaint with the police.

“I am a physically challenged person and has been working here for a meagre salary of Rs 4,000 per month. I was forced to tolerate as I did not have any other option. But when he crossed all limits, I was forced to seek police help,” said the woman, who hails from Balasore district.

The two other complainants, both aged around 26, alleged that Mohanty had been mentally torturing them.

“He has been forcing us to stay in the office late even though business is over at 5pm. He had been using abusive languages and when we objected to it, he threatened us of dire consequences,” one of them said.

Inspector in-charge of Kharvela Nagar police station Nihar Ranjan Pradhan said that an investigation was on to verify the allegations made by the employees.

Refuting the charges, Mohanty saw in it an attempt to defame him. “All of them were not doing their job properly and I have sought explanations from them. Besides, some people who are not happy with my honesty have used the employees to fabricate charges against me,” he said.