Dwivedi booked under MCOCA

Police claimed that Dwivedi aimed to make it to the list of top billionaires by “eyeing big donations” from foreign agencies and Christian missionaries. He wanted to become a kingmaker in politics,using his followers as a “vote bank” to further his influence.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) HGS Dhaliwal said: “We have invoked Section 3 of MCOCA against Dwivedi. There are over five cases and two chargesheets against him. An FIR under MCOCA has been registered at Saket Police station on Saturday.” Dhaliwal added that if convicted,he could even get life imprisonment and a fine of upto Rs 5 lakh.

According to the police,Dwivedi,a self-claimed Sai Baba devotee,was earning money through five channels: real estate,money lending,prostitution,donations and by conducting special religious programmes.

“We have found four accounts in his name in the Capital,” Dhaliwal added.

Dwivedi was looking after “all the logistics” involved in his business. He would even answer phones,beginning conversations with the salutation of “Om Sai Ram”.

Police found that Dwivedi owns two properties in Chitrakoot,where investigators had taken him for further investigations. They could not enter Chitrakoot as his henchmen allegedly managed to assemble over 2,000 people there.

Asked whether Dwivedi forced anybody into prostitution,Dhaliwal said some of them “voluntarily” entered the profession but a majority were from vulnerable backgrounds. “Some were given monetary help and they could not get out of the trap,” Dhaliwal said.

Investigators have found that he had built cave-like structures in his temple in Khanpur,South Delhi.

Dwivedi had begun by working as a security guard at the five star Hotel Park Royal in Nehru Place and later shifted to a massage parlor in Lajpat Nagar. In 1997,he was arrested for carrying out prostitution. He was again arrested for receiving stolen property in 1998. The Noida Police arrested him in 2003 for running a sex racket from a flat in Sector 11. They had evoked the Gangster Act against him.

Further investigations are on.