Madrid Michelin Restaurant Boss In The Soup Over Date Rape Drug Bust
A top Madrid restaurateur was caught red-handed spiking a woman’s drink with a date-rape drug at private members’ club in London, a court has heard.
Staff at the exclusive Annabel’s Club, called the police after spotting restauranteur Vikas Nath using a straw to transfer a liquid from a vanilla extract bottle into a woman’s drink the court was told.
Nath, 63, is accused of trying to “administer a substance with intent” and possession of an illegal drug.
Although he denies the charges, he admitted spiking the drink, to “relax” the woman rather than as part of a plan to have sex with her.
Police later searched his home and found a motion-activated camera in a bedroom, the jury was also told.
He admited using it to “covertly” record sexual activity.
Nath, has a portfolio of restaurants in the UK and Spain, including Benares in Madrid which boasts being the Spanish capital´s best Michelin starred Indian restaurant.
Local media reported that when UK officers arrived at the club, they recovered the bottle, which was found to contain traces of the date rape drug gamma-butyrolactone (GBL).
Two bottles of the drug were later found under his sink at home, the jury heard.
The court was told that Nath had earlier exchanged text messages with a friend saying he wanted to have sex with the woman and was “frustrated” it had not yet happened.
However staff saw “rather strange actions” by Nath; when the woman left the table and watched as he used a straw to take liquid from a bottle he was trying to hide, and then dripped it into the woman’s drink.
The court was told that “he tried to hide the evidence of what he had done, going to the lavatory and throwing that little bottle into the cistern, and it was floating about when police recovered it.”
In a police interview, Nath said he had got the GBL as a cleaning fluid for a high-performance car, and had been told by a friend that it could also be drunk with alcohol as a “relaxant”.
He told police he had not realised it was illegal for him to be in possession of GBL.
The trial continues.
