NEW DELHI, Sept 3: A yoga teacher has been arrested from Chikkamagaluru in Karnataka on a complaint from an NRI who accused him of rape. In her police complaint, the woman alleged that the man raped her while claiming that they had a relationship in their previous birth.
The accused have been identified as 54-year old Pradeep Ullal, who runs the Kevala Foundation in Chikkamagaluru. The yoga teacher was arrested after the woman, who took online yoga classes from him, filed a police complaint on Sunday.
In her complaint, the woman mentioned that her family was from Punjab and that they have been staying in California in the United States since 2000. The woman further claimed that she visited Ullal thrice in 2021 and 2022 during which she was sexually assaulted.
Reports said Ullal sexually assaulted her while trying to convince her that they were in a relationship in their previous birth and spoke about “spirituality, energy work and divine love,” she stated in the complaint. The woman said she also became pregnant but eventually had a miscarriage.
The accused has been booked under Section 376(2)(n) (commits rape repeatedly on the same woman) of the Indian Penal Code by the Chikkamagaluru rural police.
Speaking on the case, a police officer said, “Ullal is settled in Bengaluru and worked in Dubai earlier. During his stay in Dubai, he is said to have started yoga classes there. He returned to India later, bought three acres of land in 2010, and started yoga classes in Chikkamagaluru district.”
The official further stated that Ullal used to take people on Himalayan trips, bird watching, and other events. “His operations were mainly online and there were many students,” he added.
(Manas Dasgupta)