Rape Charges for Millionaire Bikram Yoga Founder

The women also claim Bikram Choudhury, whose devotees have included Madonna and Jennifer Aniston, cultivates a cult-like environment where staffers turn a blind eye to his actions.

The two women, known only as Jane Doe No. 1 and Jane Doe No. 2, filed their suits against Choudhury and Bikram Yoga College of India in Los Angeles Superior Court last week. They allege sexual battery, false imprisonment, discrimination, harassment and other counts.

On the night of Nov. 18, 2010, she claims, he told her he wanted to talk about a job opportunity in his room at the studio. Instead, he began taking off her clothes forcefully, the suit alleges, and the exhausted student tried to push him away but was "too weak and overwrought to fight him off."

She also says that the 25 other defendants named in the suit knew about their boss' behavior and history with women.

Jane Doe No. 1's complaint is reportedly similar to Doe No. 2's, except that she claims she was raped twice by Choudhury, in fall 2011. She claims she confronted Choudhury in March and that he tried to "inflict guilt" by saying that if she went public with her allegations, the entire Bikram Yoga community would pay the price.

Jane Doe No. 2 claims Choudhury raped her in November 2010 while she was training to be a teacher through a nine-week program at Choudhury's Bikram Yoga studio in San Diego.

Doe No. 2 alleges that the $13,000 training course, which was a gift from her boyfriend, requires students to abstain from sex. They are taught that Bikram Yoga can cure diseases including cancer and told that Choudhury should be revered as a god, she says in her complaint.

She also claims that the studio fosters a cult-like environment where "every moment of a student's day is controlled by the schedule set by defendant Bikram Choudhury," the complaint states, adding that students are told what they can eat, wear and say and what expressions they should have on their faces. Some students are pushed so hard they wind up fainting, vomiting, urinating on themselves, or suffering heat strokes or seizures, the complaint adds.

"Students are also often required to attend evening lectures, where defendant Choudhury rants on subjects including his negative views on certain races; negative views on homosexuality; the moral lassitude of Americans; his guru; his views on sex, marriage, and relationships; and whatever else he should care to talk about," the complaint alleges.

Doe No. 2 claims she was initially flattered when Choudhury began paying extra attention to her but became uncomfortable when he made a move on her and expressed his feelings for her. She claims she reminded him of her boyfriend and his wife (he is married to Rajashree Choudhury, founder of the United States Yoga Federation), but that didn't stop his sexual advances.

"Plaintiff is informed and believes that after defendant Bikram Choudhury lures the young women to his place of business, through various schemes and designs and with the participation of his inner circle who are knowledgeable of and complicit in the abuse, he sexually assaults and/or rapes them," the suit alleges.

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