Former Trust Yoga instructor who allegedly molested female clients plans to contest charges

SINGAPORE — A 32-year-old former yoga instructor intends to contest 10 counts of outrage of modesty, after he was charged on Tuesday (Nov 30) with molesting five women at a yoga studio in Telok Ayer.

Rajpal Singh, an India national, told the court through a Hindi interpreter that he would not be pleading guilty and would contest the charges. 

On Monday, the police said that a 32-year-old man — whom they did not name — was alleged to have molested five women aged between 24 and 38 during yoga classes in 2019 and last year.

Court documents on Tuesday stated that Singh allegedly touched their chest or other intimate parts of their body at a branch of Trust Yoga located at the Central Business District.

None of the alleged victims can be identified because of a court order to protect their identities. 

When District Judge Lorraine Ho asked if he had a lawyer, Singh replied to say that he did not and he needed time to engage one.

He attended the court hearing via a video call.

Singh, who is on remand, added that he was unemployed but has a friend who could bail him out.

Trust Yoga, a yoga studio with outlets in Telok Ayer and Tampines, came under the spotlight in July last year after a former student alleged in a viral social media post that she was sexually assaulted at one of the studios.

This later prompted more women to come forward with allegations that they, too, were molested by an instructor.

Trust Yoga said in a statement in August last year that the instructor who was allegedly involved in the incident had agreed to go on leave after internal investigations, and that it was cooperating with the authorities on the matter.

The following month, Yahoo News Singapore reported that the five women, all ex-students, lodged police reports between July 13 and Aug 29 that year.

They alleged that the instructor touched them inappropriately while he helped them with their yoga positions. 

Throughout the saga, the instructor’s name was never mentioned. 

Singh is not the first yoga instructor to be charged with molestation in recent years.

In April 2018, yoga instructor Rakesh Kumar Prasad was jailed nine months and fined S$1,000 for molesting a student. 

Rakesh was convicted of touching and pinching a student’s breast while they were alone in a studio at Tampines Grande’s Real Yoga outlet.

His jail sentence was later increased to a year and he was given three strokes of the cane, after prosecutors filed an appeal.

Singh will return to court on Dec 14. 

If found guilty of outrage of modesty, he could be jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or given any combination of the three penalties.