New Delhi, March 01: Delhi Police is likely to invoke provisions of MCOCA against a 39-year-old self-styled godman who was arrested for allegedly running a multi-crore sex racket in the national capital.
Shiv Murat Dwivedi (39) alias Ichchadhari Sant Swami Bhimanand Ji Maharaj Chitrakoot Wale, who had set up a ‘temple’ in south Delhi’s Khanpur, was arrested with a man and six women, including two air hostesses, last week on charges of prostitution.
Sources said officials were looking into whether Dwivedi could be slapped charges under the provisions of MCOCA, which allows police to furnish as evidence confession the accused made before a senior official not below the rank of a DCP.
Police believe that Dwivedi was in close association with some notorious pimps, including Sonu Punjaban and two others who was arrested in November 2008, and were running the racket along with them.
Apparently, they fell out and the others were arrested.
The sources said Dwivedi earned crores of rupees through the sex racket. Half a dozen diaries were recovered from Dwivedi’s possession which contains a large number of names, including some politicians. However, the veracity of his claims is yet to be ascertained, they said.
Police are also planning to take Dwivedi to Chitrakoot where he hails from.
Investigators have found that Dwivedi has built cave-like structures in a temple he built in south Delhi’s Khanpur.
Dwivedi has recently built a 200-bed hospital in his native place.
The racket was unearthed on February 25 after police received inputs about the pimps and sex workers who were to come to PVR Saket. A Sub-Inspector was sent as a decoy customer and after a deal was struck, police swooped down and arrested them.
To cover up his activities, Dwivedi changed his name and claimed to be a disciple of Sai Baba.
“He started a Sai Baba temple in Badarpur and gradually started a flesh trade racket on the premises. He constructed his own temple at Khanpur and started holding Pravachans and Satsangs,” a senior police official said.
He added that Dwivedi got articles about him published in magazines and released CDs of his sermons so as to make his religious front seem real.
To cover up his activities, the official claimed, Dwivedi disguised himself as Ichchadhari Sant Swami Bhimanand Ji Maharaj Chitrakoot and claimed himself to be a great disciple of Sai Baba.
“He started meditating in a Sai Baba temple in Badarpur and gradually started a flourishing flesh trade racket,” he added.
-PTI