LONDON: A UK judge refused bail to Indian lawyer Vijay Aggarwal accused of sexual assault and human trafficking on Wednesday saying there was a major risk of him fleeing to avoid trial as he had no strong ties to the UK.
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Sasha Wass, representing Aggarwal at Southwark Crown Court, pleaded for bail saying Aggarwal is a “man of outstanding reputation” and “he is not a violent predator attacking women in streets.”
“The defendant is a 57 year-old practising lawyer hugely respected in India, well known and qualified in dealing with financial crime,” Wass said.
“His daughter has a 5% stake in her father’s firm. Her father is the only person qualified to deal with white collar crime,” Wass added.
She proposed various bail conditions and put forward various large bail sureties amounting to a total of hundreds of thousands of pounds. These were from another lawyer Vijay Goel, a Mr Nayak, a Mr Kumar, Aggarwal’s daughter and Aggarwal himself. “He is not going to give up a high profile career in India and go on the run…He wants to clear his name,” she said, arguing that even if Aggarwal fled to India, he would be immediately put into custody and remain there until his extradition to the UK was completed.
“It is fanciful to say he would interfere with witnesses,” she added. She also claimed he had various health conditions that would get better treatment in the community than at prison.
Aggarwal is accused of sexually assaulting three women at a property in Mayfair who responded to job adverts for a PA between May and Aug, when he was in London on a business visa. On May 26 he asked one woman who came for a job interview if she had a boyfriend and went to the gym, touched her collarbone and tried to slide his hand down her chest, the court was told. On Aug 9 another woman was told Aggarwal was looking for “more than an assistant.” He said he wanted to feel her, hugged her and lay her on the bed and said “You should know what type of job this is.” He then kissed and sexually assaulted her on the bed, it is alleged.
Extra charges of “facilitating travel for sexual exploitation” - an offence under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 - and of possessing £30k (38 lakh) as the “proceeds of criminal conduct” were on Wednesday added to the four counts of sexual assault that Aggarwal is charged with.
The £30k was found on Aug 11, the day he was arrested, it is alleged.
Oliver Wellings, prosecuting, objected to bail, saying: “He appears to have made contact with some 500 people and a number of interviews were conducted. The Crown’s case is he sexually assaulted at least two complainants and made sexual comments to three in highly organised systematic offending leading to grave offences against multiple complainants. Extradition from India is possible, but not certain and is a complex procedure and the Crown is concerned given the organised systematic nature of offending that he could obstruct the course of justice and interfere with witnesses if granted bail. He runs a law firm, has 30 lawyers working for him and has a partner so refusing bail has limited impact.”
He said it was unclear “what knowledge Vijay Goel had” and so the Crown questioned if he was an “appropriate surety” and there were “concerns over Mr Nayak’s role as chairman of a specialist flight leasing company in connection with the defendant’s flight risks. No conditions can be attached to bail to allay the Crown’s fears,” Wellings said.
Judge Alexander Milne said he did not dispute that Aggarwal had a successful and large business in India and is “apparently highly respected there” but said: “On the face of the evidence what is suggested is Aggarwal used a recruiting campaign as a sham to draw in people being offered as they understood it a job as a PA only to find that what was being sought was someone who would be sexually pliant to Aggarwal’s wishes. It reflects activity over a period of months and, on the face of it, was a deeply disturbing planned and sinister attempt to draw young women into a position where they had no choice but to comply with his sexual wishes. This suggests a man prepared to abuse status as a senior and experienced lawyer with money and power to pursue his own ends.”
Refusing bail, Milne pointed out Aggarwal had no strong ties to the UK as his family, business and life are in India and took into account the “the serious nature of the allegations.”
He was not persuaded it would be easy to extradite Aggarwal from India, if he fled there, saying it was “common knowledge there are many backlogs of cases in India and cases can take a lengthy period to reach court.”
Aggarwal, an Indian citizen, appeared in the dock from Wandsworth prison in a grey tracksuit. His co-defendant Manpreet Kaur, who is at Bronzefield prison, did not appear on Wednesday. A plea hearing for both of them will take place later this year and a trial is scheduled for March 2027.
