Restaurant boss ‘spiked woman’s drink in club’

A MILLIONAIRE Michelinstarred restaurateur appeared in court yesterday accused of drugging a woman at a Mayfair private members’ club.

Businessman Vikas Nath is said to have spiked a woman’s drink with the sex drug GBL. He is alleged to have administered the substance with the intent to ‘stupefy or overpower the victim to allow sexual activity’.

The 61- year- old owns the Michelin- starred restaurant Benares in Berkeley Square, west London.

Born in India, Nath owns at least four restaurants in London and manages his family’s portfolio of seven hospitality venues in the UK and Spain, two of which have Michelin stars.

According to one profile, the former financial analyst worked as a fund manager in both London and New York, teaching business strategy, finance and capital markets at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the IE University in Madrid before moving into the restaurant business as an investor and operator in 2019.

Nath, who lives in an exclusive mansion block in Knightsbridge, was charged with intentionally administering GBL (gammabutyrolactone) to another person, knowing she did not consent and with the intention of stupefying or overpowering the victim so as to engage in a sexual activity. The offence under Section 61 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 carries a potential sixmonth jail sentence or fine.

Yesterday he denied the charge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. District Judge Briony Clarke refused bail, despite a surety of £15,000 being offered by the defendant’s lawyer.

Nath will appear at Southwark Crown Court on February 14 for a case management hearing.