TEHRAN - Embroiled in the MeToo controversy, India’s deputy foreign minister has threatened legal action against the group for women who have accused him of sexual harassment and assault.

M. J. Akbar, who returned from his overseas official trip on Monday, termed the allegations against him false and baseless. He also refused to step down as the deputy foreign minister.

The former journalist and editor with India’s leading dailies including The Telegraph and The Asian Age, Akbar is the most prominent name that has figured in India’s MeToo movement, which has grabbed headlines in mainstream Indian media.

The charges against him range from predatory behavior to sexual assault leveled by many former and present female journalists. The first journalist to come out in open against him was Priya Ramani, a prominent journalist and Akbar’s former colleague. Since then, many other women have broken their silence and narrated their own stories.

In a statement posted on Twitter on Sunday, Akbar said that the allegations were politically motivated as the country gears up for the general election next year.

Why has this storm risen a few months before a general election? Is there an agenda? You be the judge, he wrote. Many journalists reacted strongly to his statement, calling him a shame for Indian democracy.

Many top Indian journalists, entrepreneurs, filmmakers, and authors have been named in the MeToo movement by women from different walks of life.