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Former Business Partner of Ravi Zacharias Details Late Apologist's Pattern of Sexual Misconduct

Milton Quintanilla

A former business partner of the late apologist Ravi Zacharias recently detailed Zacharias’ alleged sexual misdeeds that his ministry, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, confirmed in an interim report on Dec. 23, 2020.

According to The Christian Post, on Monday, Christian investigative journalist Julie Roys of The Roys Report shared an audio recording of Anurag Sharma, one of the late apologist’s former business partners, detailing Zacharias’ misconduct in an interview with two private investigators.

Sharma and Zacharias co-owned Jivan Wellness, which offered massage therapy and ancient Indian medicine with roots in Hinduism.

Sharma, who considered Zacharias a close friend, also converted to Christianity through the apologist.

In three separate interviews conducted in November and December 2020, Sharma told investigators that Zacharias would regularly expose himself to massage therapists and masturbate in front of them. He added that he first learned of the behavior between 2007 and 2010, following a complaint by a therapist.

“It started actually, the lady therapist who had come and who talked about that he’d been misbehaving—exactly the pattern that was there ...,” Sharma explained to an attorney hired by the Christian Missionary Alliance denomination. Zacharias was ordained in December by the CMA.

“And this was exactly the pattern, which was, I saw it plenty of time[s],” he added.

When confronting Zacharias about his misdeeds, Sharma explained that the late apologist told him to erase all information concerning his appointments from the spa’s computer system.

He noted that Zacharias used exhaustion from work and frequent travel as an excuse for his actions.

According to The Christian Post, in July 2010, Sharma was informed by the manager of Jivian Wellness that another massage therapist refused to take an appointment with Zacharias because of his misconduct. In response, Zacharias instructed him to delete information about him from the spa, including his removal as a customer.

Sharma shut down the business later that year after investing $300,000 to $400,000 or more in the business with little return.

After the board of Ravi’s ministry confirmed the scandal, several Christian radio networks removed  Zacharias’ teachings of off its programming.

“We are deeply saddened after reading the preliminary report provided to us by Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM),” Doug Hastings, vice president of Moody Radio, said in a statement over the Christmas holiday weekend.

“The picture that is becoming clear about Ravi Zacharias through the work of an independent investigator is very much inconsistent with his public ministry,” he continued.

American Family Radio also removed Zacharias' "Let My People Think" broadcasts from its Sunday evening programming after a nearly 20-year run.

Photo courtesy: Ravi Zacharias Facebook


Milton QuintanillaMilton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.