London: Police in Scotland have said they have begun probe after fresh complaints of sexual harassment allegations emerged against British Sikh chef and broadcaster Hardeep Singh Kohli, according to media reports. Kohli, 54, a former BBC presenter, broadcaster, author and chef, has been accused of predatory and sexually inappropriate behaviour by more than 20 women, The Times reported.

The newspaper reported this week 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 Twitter profile earlier this week after women used the platform to accuse him of sexually inappropriate behaviour. According to The Times, in July a woman claimed Kohli had groped her breasts and kissed her against her will when she was 19 and he was 44.

Another woman alleged that Kohli pushed her against a wall and tried to drag her into his bedroom. Following abuse claims, he was banned for life in July by one of Edinburgh Fringe’s largest venues.

Kohli, who had previously performed in some of their venues, will no longer be welcome by the Pleasance, which operates 27 venues across three sites during the Fringe Festival.

In 2020, he had apologised for “intimidating, undermining and undervaluing” women after several women complained about his unwanted advances, inappropriate touching and even degrading rape jokes.

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.