Big Brother star Hardeep Singh Kohli appears in court charged with indecent assaults and a sex attack

Scottish comedian and former Celebrity Big Brother contestant Hardeep Singh Kohli has appeared in court over one sex attack and three indecent assaults. The 55 year old who is also a former Celebrity MasterChef contestant and is a father of two, did not make a plea when he appeared in private before Glasgow Sheriff Court.

As well as facing a sex assault charge and three charges of indecent assault, he is also facing two counts of breach of the peace. He has been committed for further examination and released on bail. No date has been set for his next court appearance. The Times reported that “His arrest last August followed an investigation by The Times that described how several people had raised concerns about him.”

More than 16 individuals came forward in 2020 to accuse Hardeep Singh Kohli of  harassment and unwanted advances and physical contact. Hardeep Singh Kohli was born in London and his parents came to the UK from India in 1966, Hardeep now lives in Glasgow and moved there when he was four years old. He studied law at the University of Glasgow, this is where he met his ex-wife Shamila Singh.

Hardeep Singh Kohli’s older brother Raj worked in the Metropolitan Police and his younger brother Sanjeev is a successful writer and actor, he starred as Navid in BBC’s Scotland’s Still Game. Hardeep’s mother worked as a social worker and his father Parduman was a teacher and then became a landlord in Bishopbriggs in northern Glasgow. According to the Daily Mail, Parduman’s “property empire stretched to more than 100 rented flats in the city. The three brothers later followed their father in amassing a £15 million property portfolio, largely across Glasgow’s west end. They mostly rent to students.”

When he left university, Hardeep Singh Kohli joined a graduate production trainee scheme at BBC Scotland for two years. He worked as a series producer on Janet Street=Porter’s Reportage and was a reporter for BBC's The One Show. In 2006, he appeared on the first ever series of Celebrity MasterChef and was the runner-up.

In 2018, Hardeep was a housemate on Celebrity Big Brother and appeared alongside former Cheers actress Kirstie Alley, former Coronation Street star Ryan Thoms and former Arsenal footballer Jermaine Pennant. Before entering the house, he said that “It’s better to have loved and lost than to have never gone into the Celebrity Big Brother house at all.”