New Delhi/ Mumbai, Oct 17 (Agencies): A day after Union minister M.J. Akbar filed a defamation case against a journalist, two more women came forward with their accounts of alleged harassment by him, undeterred and unafraid as the #MeToo juggernaut continued to roll on. Akbar, who has engaged a top law firm to file a criminal defamation suit against journalist Priya Ramani, lauded the Modi government for its implementation of the National Food Security Act in a tweet.

However, he had more to reckon with as new allegations tumbled out of his 1990s cupboard when he was editor of several publications.

Journalist Tushita Patel, 17th woman to accuse the minister, alleged that Akbar invited her to his hotel room on the pretext of some work and opened the door dressed only in his underwear. It was early 1990s when she was a 22-year-old trainee at The Telegraph.

She has also accused him of molesting her twice while she was working in Hyderabad in the Deccan Chronicle.

Businesswoman Swati Gautam, writing for The Quint, claimed Akbar met her in his hotel room dressed only in his bathrobe when she was a student in Kolkata and went to invite him as a guest speaker for an event at St Xavier’s College. Gautam alleged that Akbar rolled a glass down to her, suggesting she make a drink for him.