British Sikh presenter arrested for alleged sexual offenses released

London, Aug 10 (IANS) British Sikh chef and former BBC presenter Hardeep Singh Kohli, who was arrested and charged over sexual harassment allegations, has been released on an undertaking and will appear in court at a later date, police said.

The 54-year-old was accused of predatory and sexually inappropriate behaviour by more than 20 women, according to an investigation by The Times newspaper.

“A 54-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with allegations of non-recent sexual offences. He has been released on an undertaking to appear in court at a later date," Police Scotland said in a statement on Wednesday.

"A report of the circumstances has been submitted to the procurator fiscal,” the police said.

Police Scotland started its probe last month after fresh complaints of sexual harassment allegations emerged against Kohli.

They have submitted a report to the Procurator Fiscal, the independent public prosecution office of the devolved region.

The Times newspaper reported in July that a former Labour party official alleged Kohli bombarded her with unwanted sexual comments after he reached out to her on social media.

"He phoned me and immediately started talking about sex,” she said.

“I told him I didn’t feel comfortable but he tried to make out there was something wrong with me because I didn’t want to engage with him in sex chat.”

Kohli deleted his X profile last month after women used the platform to accuse him of sexually inappropriate behaviour.

Born in London to immigrant parents from Punjab, Kohli presented several programmes for the BBC and other broadcasters, and was runner up in the 2006 edition of Celebrity Masterchef.

The BBC snapped ties with him in 2020.

Before that, the BBC had axed him for six months when he was a reporter in 2009 following allegations of inappropriate conduct towards a female researcher.

Kohli forayed into comedy in 2009 at the Edinburgh fringe, where he performed a one-man show, cooking curries on stage.

He also wrote for The Guardian and also participated in in Celebrity MasterChef in 2006 and Celebrity Big Brother in 2018.