TOKYO, May 22 (Xinhua) — The mayor of Komae City in western Tokyo indicated on Tuesday he would step down following claims that he sexually harassed multiple women.

Four female employees of the municipal government submitted a letter of protest to the city, naming themselves as victims of sexual harassment by Komae Mayor Kunihiko Takahashi.

Takahashi had previously denied the allegations on repeated occasions.

According to local prefectural officials, the letter was submitted by the four women earlier in the day, with the initial allegations against Takahashi, 66, dating back to March, with calls for him to step down becoming more vociferous since then.

The deputy mayor of the city, who has also been calling on Takahashi to quit, maintained at a press briefing held a day earlier that the city had confirmed, by way of internal investigation, two of the four allegations of sexual harassment leveled at the mayor had taken place.

The Japanese Communist Party had obtained an internal document of the municipal government revealing that sexual harassment claims against Takahashi had officially been made by multiple female employees.

The document showed the allegations against Takahashi was a catalyst for broader denouncements of the mayor's sexual improprieties against female city employees.

Local media reported that of those harassed, one of them said Takahashi had forced her to drink from a glass he had been drinking from, while another alleged he touched her buttocks in an elevator.