Fifth case against ‘godman’

The police have unearthed yet another case of immoral trafficking against self-styled godman Swami Shiv Murat Dwivedi — arrested last Friday for allegedly running a sex racket in the Capital — taking the total number of cases against him to five.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South),H G S Dhaliwal said Dwivedi was arrested under the ITP Act in Srinivaspuri in 1998. “He was convicted and a monetary fine was slapped against him. This is the fifth case against him. In 1997,Dwivedi was arrested on charges of running a prostitution racket in Lajpat Nagar. The next year,he was arrested for dacoity in Badarpur. In 2003,he was arrested from Noida Sector-24 under the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act and was also charged under the Gangster Act.”

Police said they have two convictions and five cases against Dwivedi and enough evidence to invoke the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against him. A court,meanwhile,sent Dwivedi to police custody till March 9.