NEW DELHI: The National Students' Union of India (NSUI) president Fairoz Khan stepped down from his post on Tuesday, following charges of sexual harassment.

Mr Khan, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir had submitted his resignation on Monday and Congress president Rahul Gandhi accepted it, sources said.

His resignation comes in the backdrop of the “metoo” movement and an outpour of sexual harassment cases being spoken about in the country.

An NSUI office bearer from Chhattisgarh had in June this year levelled charges of sexual harassment against Mr Khan, following which the Congress leadership had formed a panel to probe the allegations against the chief of the party's student union.

She had also filed a police complaint against him.

The three-member internal panel submitted its report on Friday.

The Congress worker from Chhattisgarh also lodged a complaint against the chief of the youth wing at the Parliament Street police station, saying that she feared for her life.

She had also said that Mr Khan has been sexually harassing young women in lieu of political appointments.

The complainant reportedly sent a letter to the media with details of several WhatsApp conversations between Mr Khan and two others and claimed that they approached Mr Gandhi and several other Congress leaders.

During the same time, an open letter asking Mr Gandhi to intervene was also shared by another user, who urged him to take action against Mr Khan and Chirag Patnaik, a member of the party's social media team.

However, Mr Khan had claimed that the charges against him were “absolutely baseless and politically motivated” and that all his communication with complainant had been via the  mail.

The committee comprised All India Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev, Lok Sabha member Deepender Hooda, and the party's national media panellist Ragini Nayak.