Manali, India – Police have launched a hunt for a self-styled yoga teacher after a French woman claimed he had allegedly hypnotized and raped her in a resort town in Himachal Pradesh. The 34-year-old French woman and her Swiss boyfriend lodged the complaint late Thursday, three days after the alleged incident occurred in a guesthouse in Manali.

    "The victim alleged that a yoga teacher, Swami Surinder, raped her under the pretext of teaching her 'Japanese yoga'," said Deputy Superintendent of Police Kushal Sharma, an official in Manali, investigating the case. "Apparently the victim was asked to strip so that pressure points all over the body could be pressed to release energy. During this process, she was raped while she lay in deep hypnosis," said Sharma.

    When the woman was asked why she took so long to file a complaint, the woman said she spoke to her boyfriend and another French friend in Manali a day after the incident. "After checking the Internet on 'Japanese yoga' and speaking to the French embassy in New Delhi, they decided to finally tell the police," Sharma said. It seems that the yoga teacher left the guesthouse early on Friday.

    "Late on Friday, we sent a police team to Pathankot town in Punjab, according to the address given by the yogi in the guesthouse's register. His master also lives there," the Deputy Superintendent of Police said.