UNICEF India head C Adorna returns Manila completing tenure

New Delhi, Oct 6 (UNI) UNICEF's country representative Cecilio Adorna, who was facing charges of sexual harassment and attempted rape, has finished his tenure and left the country.

A UNICEF spokesperson confirmed that Mr Adorna had to leave for Manila due to some family matters and would stay there until he takes up his next appointment in New York on October 15.

Officer Incharge of UNICEF Eimar Barr denied the charge of Ms Archana Pandey, the complainant and a former UNICEF official, that Mr Adorna had ''fled the country suddenly and under secretive circumstances in the wee hours yesterday.'' Meanwhile, Ms Pandey in a statement here charged that the 400-odd staff of UNICEF across 14 states in the country had no inkling about Mr Adorna's overnight departure. Ms Pandey had accused Mr Adorna of attempted rape in February and a case was filed against him in the Metropolitan Magistrate's court in Patiala in April.

Learning of his imminent departure, Ms Pandey had filed a writ petition in the High Court on Thursday seeking to restrain him from leaving India. Unfortunately, it was leaked in the media and that ''probably caused Adorna to flee the country in the manner that he did,'' she claimed.

UNI