Team Herald
PANJIM: The rape allegations against the yoga teacher made by two American and Canadian nationals are not the only two cases being probed against him by Goa Police. Pratik Agarwal, who migrated from Allahabad to start a yoga school at Siolim, is also accused of allegedly raping a Russian woman in April 2015 leading to her pregnancy.
Anjuna Police confirmed that a First Information Report (FIR) against him and his wife, also a yoga teacher, was registered based on a complaint from the 28-year-old Russian rape survivor. The sleuths filed a chargesheet under Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (threatening) of the Indian Penal Code against the couple in May 2016.
“After the district & sessions court rejected his anticipatory bail plea, the accused moved the High Court of Bombay at Goa that granted him conditional interim relief. Since he cooperated with the investigation, there was no need for his arrest,” an officer told Herald. However, he was taken into custody on May 7, 2016 and bailed out the very day.
The Russian victim had charged him with raping her in October 2014, which subsequently led to her pregnancy. Sources reveal that she later flew back to her hometown with the newborn. In her testimony to the investigation sleuths, she had claimed she had been threatened by the alleged accused and his wife to leave India.
The case is at the trial stage and the police are taking action and gathering evidence to nail the accused and prepare a watertight chargesheet in the current cases. “Anjuna police have shared the 2015 case details with us. All possible action is being taken to ensure he does not go scot free,” Pernem PI Rahul Parab told Herald.
Legal counsel to the Russian Consulate in Mumbai, Vikram Varma, who assisted the woman proceed with the complaint, alleged that criminal-minded people are taking undue advantage of the Indian system. “I do find that these criminals are confident that if they molest or rape a foreign tourist, who under the terms of her visa has to leave India, our system will never be able to convict them. They know they can beat the system,” he said.
Agarwal is presently being interrogated for the offences alleged by the American and Canadian victims.
Pernem PI Rahul Parab said, “Currently the yoga center has no licences on record from any department or the local panchayat. We are verifying from different departments whether they have given any license to this yoga center. Further investigations are in progress.”
