A former Kelowna massage therapist is under police investigation for sexual misconduct.

According to a Feb. 17 College of Complementary Health Professionals of BC public notice, Ajaydeep Shokar is accused of sexual misconduct when treating a patient.

“During the provision of massage therapy treatment… Mr. Shokar placed his hand at her inner groin, then directly touched her genitalia beneath (her) clothing,” the College’s public notice says.

“This is not a final disposition, but an urgent, protective, and temporary measure that will remain in effect until the matter is concluded,” the public notice says.

The College says it was contacted by the RCMP regarding the matter, and the complainant also contacted them to make a complaint.

Shokar, who goes by the first name Ajay, let his massage therapy licence expire on Dec. 31, 2025, and as such, the College says if he reapplies for his licence, it will grant an interim order prohibiting him from treating women.

The massage therapist once worked at Harmony Chiropractic & Wellness Clinic in Kelowna, but a staff member told iNFOnews.ca he left in October 2023.

He later worked at the Panda Clinic in Surrey, and staff confirmed he left several months ago.

The College said the alleged sexual misconduct took place in Surrey.

However, the College wasn’t originally forthcoming with the information of which city the incident took place in, listing it as “not applicable” on the public notice.

When iNFOnews.ca asked the College of Complementary Health Professionals why it was hiding the name of the city where the allegations took place, the public notice was amended to list Surrey as the location.

The issue comes shortly after the BC regulator was previously criticized for not disclosing which province a massage therapist facing a sexual misconduct allegation had moved to.

Last November, registered massage therapist Conan Valyear was accused of sexual misconduct, but resigned his licence and moved to Ontario before the College could place sanctions on him.

The College released a public notification about Valyear, but only said he’d moved provinces, without saying where.

The victim in that case told iNFOnews.ca that the lack of transparency from the BC regulator was extremely frustrating.

“They’re supposed to protect the public, not the registrant,” she said at the time.

Her comments were echoed by veteran BC lawyer Luisa Hlus, who spent 25 years working for various regulators and said the College had no justification for not telling the public which province the massage therapist was now practicing in.

The College gave no explanation as to why it hadn’t included the location of the allegations in its first public notice.

The BC College confirmed that Shokar became registered in BC in August 2022.

None of the allegations has been proven.