Mumbai: Top fitness guru booked for sexual harassment

The Khar police arrested fitness and yoga instructor Gunjan Sharma last week for the alleged sexual assault of a 32yearold professional pole dancer but he was released on bail the next day The woman has now posted a threepart video on her Instagram account which has a large fan following to get the cops to actA woman has alleged that fitness and yoga instructor Gunjan Sharma on the pretext of helping her to stretch at her home had touched her inappropriately and sexually assaulted her In her statement to the police the professional dancer further alleged that Sharma has sexually abused many young women in the past as well Most of them couldnt muster the courage to approach the police and get him booked she said in her statementAccording to the woman Sharma was arrested after she registered an FIR and produced before a court ldquoBut I wondered how he was immediately granted bailrdquo she told midday Pleading with the Mumbai Police via Instagram to look into the matter seriously the woman said ldquoI was sexually assaulted by Gunjan Sharma who is a known sexual predator None of us feels safe as he can harm us at any pointrdquoA video grab of Gunjan Sharmarsquos response to the allegations on InstagramldquoThe ordeal of each victim is worse than the nextrdquo she said sobbing in her Instagram post She also urged other victims to come forward to embolden their voices against Sharma The woman who is a Kharbased pole dancer yoga teacher and flexibility trainer has more than 10000 followers on Instagram She met Sharma in January 2018 after joining a yoga training centre in Khar as a teacher and was in touch with him at the class till August 2019On November 12 2021 the woman and Sharma started following each other on Instagram He would like her videos and also encouraged her work He also suggested on several occasions to start a class together but she declined However on May 11 2023 they had a training session at her Khar residence The session started around 8 pm and ended at 1030 pm They also recorded many videos together After this the woman started stretching exercises and Sharma offered to helpSharma told the woman to relax on the floor and that he will stretch her body in just a few minutes He then started touching her inappropriately inserted his hand in her clothes and started molesting her Sharma forcibly molested her said a police officer adding that he fled after the woman raised an alarmBased on the womanrsquos complaint Sharma was arrested by the Khar police last week He was produced in court and released on bail the next day ldquoWe have registered an FIR under IPC Sections 354 354A1i and 509rdquo said police subinspector Laxman Kakade of Khar policeGunjan Sharma saysSpeaking exclusively with midday Sharma said he has been falsely implicated by the woman who he was in touch with for one year ldquoI met her for the first time on May 11 after she invited me to her home in Khar I have preserved all the chat history for further use to defend myself in the court of lawrdquo said Sharma who is a native of Biharrsquos Bhagalpur district and has been living in Mumbai since 2011The woman has alleged that the fitness coach has molested many young women in the past as well PicSatej ShindeldquoI have been coaching fitness coaches for the last 20 years but have never faced such a weird allegation in my career I have worked with many celebrities of Bollywoodrdquo he added ldquoAfter she called me at her housecumpole studio at Khar on May 11 I helped her in stretching She was not alone at her flat and also made a few videos when I was coaching her which she later sent me on WhatsApp on the same nightrdquo he recalledAccording to Sharma he uploaded the video to his Instagram account on May 14 after taking permission from the woman ldquoThe video went viral within a few minutes as I have more than 65000 followers but to my surprise she texted me to take down the video I told her it was uploaded only after she gave her consent but I was forced to take it downrdquo Sharma said adding that the woman was not visible in the frame and only he was seen in the videoWhen asked why a woman will falsely implicate him Sharma said ldquoShe had been pumped up by my rivals who want to ruin my reputation which I have earned through my hard workrdquo ldquoI have not sexually abused any woman as she is claiming in her allegations but people will believe her since she is seen shedding tears in the videos Even the cops knew that I am being framed by the woman but had to register an FIR as she had approached the police with the complaintrdquo he addedSharma further pointed out that the woman had waited for 19 days to lodge the complaint ldquoIf anything she claims has happened why did she wait for 19 days to register an FIR against me Why did she text me videos on the night of May 11 if I had molested her on the same day Which sexual assault victim interacts with a perpetrator These are baseless allegations allrdquoMay 11Day of the alleged assault