Former TERI chief R.K. Pachauri could not appear before a court here on Saturday in a defamation case which he has filed against lawyer Vrinda Grover and others, blaming two media channels for creating hurdles in the front of his house. Pachauri’s counsel Ashish Dixit told court-appointed local commissioner Santosh Mishra that he received a text message from his client that were some hurdles created by media in the front of his residence so he could not come outside or proceed anywhere. The court adjourned the matter for August 8 for recording statement of the environmentalist as complainant witness in the case.

Pachauri, accused of sexually harassing a colleague in The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), has filed a Rs 1 crore civil defamation suit against Grover and another woman for allegedly making defamatory statements against him outside the court to the media. He sought damages for “false and frivolous allegations”. On February 26, a trial court passed an order making it mandatory for the media houses to publish or telecast the coverage of the case with a rider “in any court the allegations have not been proved and they may not be correct”.