New Delhi, March 2, 2010 (Times): A SELF-STYLED Hindu holy man and a British Airways stewardess have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in a lucrative prostitution racket.

Police said that Shiv Myra Dwivedi, a Hindu "swami", used his temple in south Delhi as a front to provide as many as 200 prostitutes, including air hostesses and students, often to clients in five-star hotels. In his spiritual guise, he claimed a following of more than 100,000 people, including leading politicians.

Undercover officers arrested him, another alleged pimp and six alleged prostitutes including two air hostesses -- one from British Airways and one from Indian airline Jagson -- on Friday evening, Delhi police said.

The six women, aged between 19 and 30, included an MBA student. Each gave fake Indian names, apart from one identified only as "Ms Julie". Delhi police did not specify their nationalities. British Airways said it was looking into the report.

A police statement said that the suspects were detained as the alleged pimps negotiated a deal with a group of young men near a cinema in the upmarket Saket neighbourhood of Delhi. Police also found a network of tunnels and secret rooms at Mr Dwivedi's temple as well as diaries and other documents detailing his alleged involvement in prostitution, according to media reports.

"In disguise of this spiritual facade, he is a pimp and tout who supplies sex workers in posh areas of Delhi," the statement said.

Some police estimated that he had earned pound stg. 6.5 million ($11m), while others put his earnings at more than 10 times that amount.

Swamis have been revered in India for thousands of years, originally as leaders of Hindu religious schools or sects. They were often believed to have divine powers. Some claim millions of followers and have become hugely rich from donations.

Mr Dwivedi is the latest of a succession of holy men to have become embroiled in sex scandals, which critics say highlight the need for better government regulation to expose charlatans.

His arrest comes almost a year after Santosh Madhavan, a holy man from the southern state of Kerala, was jailed for 16 years for raping and illegally confining two young girls from an orphanage he ran. Police said that they found drugs and pornographic videos in his ashram.