Kannur: Sarath Nambiar (44), who runs a popular gym and physiotherapy centre in Payyannur, was arrested on a complaint by a woman from Kasaragod alleging sexual misconduct during a physiotherapy session.

Nambiar was already facing a similar complaint filed in 2024, and that case has since moved to the trial stage, Payyannur police said. In that case, Nambiar told the Thalassery Sessions Court that he was framed by business rivals who opposed his physiotherapy practice.

In the latest case, the woman from Kasaragod alleged that Nambiar touched her inappropriately while she was undergoing physiotherapy at his clinic. The incident reportedly took place in 2025. She told police she experienced severe mental distress after the incident but opened up only during a recent counselling session, after which she told her husband. Later, they approached the Payyannur police, who registered a case and arrested Nambiar.

Nambiar's Arogya Wellness Clinic, near Payyannur bus stand, has a gym and offers fitness-related services, including the sale of fitness equipment, taekwondo training and what it describes as “manual therapy”. He describes himself on social media as a massage therapist, master trainer, personal trainer, fitness consultant, chiropractor and acupuncture practitioner.

But in the 2024 case, he told the court that he was not a licensed physiotherapist and employed a physiotherapist in the clinic. In that case, a 20-year-old nursing student alleged that he sexually assaulted her during a physiotherapy session at his clinic in early July. He was charged with rape and sexual harassment.

The Sessions Court then, considering his bail plea, found that the material did not establish rape but held that there was prima facie material for an offence involving assault with intent to outrage a woman’s modesty. Nambiar was granted bail on July 26, 2024, after the Sessions Court noted that the investigation was complete and that further detention was not required.

Later on August 7, 2024, the Sessions Court modified his bail condition, allowing him to attend his clinic and gym.

Nambiar had denied the allegations in the earlier case, with his counsel saying that the Kannur District Committee of the Indian Association of Physiotherapists had always criticised Nambiar’s centre and even held a press conference against him.