Indian-born millionaire spikes woman’s drink with date-rape drug, gets caught red-handed on CCTV at London restaurant

Vikas Nath, 63, was caught red-handed while spiking a woman’s drink in London. The Indian-born owner of a Michelin-starred restaurant has admitted in court to spiking the woman’s drink, according to the BBC.

The alleged incident happened at a private Mayfair club on 15 January 2024. Nath is accused of adding gamma-butyrolactone, known as GBL, to the woman’s margarita at Annabel’s.

Club staff had seen Nath use a straw to pour liquid from a vanilla extract bottle into the drink, Southwark Crown Court heard. Staff replaced the drink before it was consumed and alerted police.

Nath faces charges of attempting to administer a substance with intent. He faces charges also for possessing a Class B drug. While he accepts he spiked the drink, Nath denies any sexual motive. He claims he wanted to help the woman relax.

The jury was also told that Nath had kept a motion-activated camera in a bedroom at his Knightsbridge home. He admitted to using the device to secretly record sexual encounters.

The court was told that the woman had invited Vikas Nath to Annabel’s, where she was a member. They went to the rooftop bar. She ordered a cocktail and later left the table to show two friends around the club.

According to prosecutors, two staff members then noticed unusual behaviour while Nath was alone with the drinks. They saw him use a straw to take liquid from a small bottle and stealthily drip it into the woman’s drink.

Before the police arrived, Nath realised he had been discovered. He went to the toilet and hid the bottle in the cistern.

"Prior to the police arriving, Mr Nath clearly worked out that he had been rumbled," the BBC quoted prosecutor Tim Clark KC as saying.

The millionaire businessman owns restaurants in the UK and Spain, including two Michelin-starred venues. He hid a vanilla extract bottle in a toilet cistern while police were on the way, the court heard.

When officers arrived at the Mayfair club, they recovered the bottle. It contained traces of the date-rape drug. Police found two more bottles of GBL under his kitchen sink at home.

During a police interrogation, Nath said that he had bought GBL as a cleaning fluid for a high-performance car. He claimed that a friend had told him it could also be mixed with alcohol to relax someone. According to Nath, he did not know that possessing GBL was illegal, the BBC reported.

Prosecutors said Nath had exchanged messages with a friend before the incident. The chat showed he had wanted to have sex with the woman.

The 63-year-old felt frustrated that it had not happened yet. The prosecution said his admission was unavoidable because the spiking was caught on CCTV.

"His acceptance is not surprising; he had little choice because the spiking was captured on CCTV at Annabel's," Clark said.

"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," the prosecutor added.

If found guilty, Vikas Nath is likely to face a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. The trial is ongoing.