Authorities at the House of Lords have opened an investigation into another Tory peer, Rami Ranger, the Guardian has learned, after an independent journalist accused him of a campaign of bullying and harassment. Poonam Joshi, a freelance reporter and women’s rights campaigner, has been investigating Lord Ranger over his links to a controversial Indian guru, details of which were revealed by the Observer newspaper earlier this month. Ranger told the Observer he regretted attending an event at the House of Lords at which a representative of the guru was present. The invitations to the event were issued in Ranger’s name. But he responded to Joshi with a volley of abuse over Twitter and WhatsApp, which the Lords commissioner for standards is investigating. Ranger is suing Joshi for defamation. The investigation comes just weeks after the Lords launched an inquiry into the Conservative peer Michelle Mone, after the Guardian revealed she and her children had benefited from £29m of profits from government contracts during the Covid pandemic. Joshi told the Guardian: “I have been targeted by Mr Ranger for weeks … Lord Ranger has long been seen as an elder statesman within the British Asian community who has never been criticised in any way. So to be questioned, especially by a journalist who also happens to be an Indian woman, is seen as an ‘affront’ in our community.” Ranger said: “I have served court papers for defamation against [Joshi] and as a result, I cannot comment now. I will be giving my response to the commissioner for parliamentary standards in due course.” The Lords commissioner for standards did not comment.
Ranger is a significant Tory donor, having given the party £1.5m through individual donations and through his consumer goods company, Sun Mark. He is an influential figure in the British Indian community, helped found the Hindu Forum of Britain and served as a patron of Conservative Friends of India. In October, Ranger helped organise a glamorous Diwali event at the House of Lords, which Joshi attended. Also there was Atmadayaki Nithya – Atmadaya, as she is commonly known – the UK representative for Nithyananda, a Hindu guru with millions of followers who is on the run after being charged with raping a follower and abducting children. Atmadaya has described allegations against Nithyananda as “false and part of a campaign of religious persecution by anti-Hindu extremist elements of the government in India”. Ranger told the Observer: “If I had known, I would never have attended an event where such unsavoury characters were being promoted.” But he took a different tone with Joshi. After she confronted him over her concerns, he subjected her to a barrage of critical tweets and WhatsApp messages. Among them, he tweeted the unfounded allegation that her husband was a domestic abuser, called her “such an evil woman” and a “total disgrace”, called her “the epitome of filth and garbage”, and threatened to take her to court, warning: “I will teach you a lesson.” He also engaged with her on WhatsApp and during their conversations, which have been seen by the Guardian, told her she “showed a very poor upbringing”, called her “jealous and vindictive” and likened himself to “your father trying to put some sense into you”. Ranger has now launched a defamation case in the high court against Joshi in which he accuses her of promoting a “false narrative” against him. This is not the first time Ranger has been accused of demeaning behaviour towards younger women. At an employment appeal tribunal earlier this year, a judge upheld a ruling that Ranger had harassed and discriminated against a woman who had complained about sexual harassment at his company. The tribunal heard that during a recorded phone call in Punjabi the peer called his employee Ramandeep Kaur a “silly girl” and a “scumbag”. Ranger contested the translation of the conversation, saying instead that he called her an “insolent girl”. • This article was amended on 23 December 2022 to clarify that Ranger told the Observer he regretted attending an event at the House of Lords at which a representative of the guru was present. Additional reporting by Henry Dyer