Television news channel reporter Prakash Singh was Friday arrested on charges of cheating, fabrication of evidence and criminal conspiracy for his role in the fake sting operation allegedly showing a teacher forcing schoolgirls into prostitution.

"We have arrested Prakash Singh, reporter of Live India channel, for carrying out a fake sting operation, which showed that Uma Khurana (teacher) was forcing her students into prostitution," a senior police official told IANS.

"We are currently interrogating him and it seems that he conducted the sting to ensnare Khurana, who had some financial disputes with his friend Virender Arora," the official added.

The police official said that Prakash had hired Rashmi Singh, a freelance journalist who posed as a schoolgirl and victim of a prostitution ring in the fake sting. She was reportedly part of the conspiracy to frame Khurana.

The police said that Prakash had prepared the fake news report on the sting operation, which he had conducted while working as a trainee with another news channel. That channel did not carry the report because it found many loopholes in it.

Meanwhile, Rashmi was Friday remanded in judicial custody till Sep 15 by a city court here.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Aloke Agarwal remanded Rashmi in judicial custody after the police said that she was part of the fake sting operation aired by the Live India TV channel.

The police had arrested Rashmi late Thursday. She has been charged with cheating, fabrication of evidence and criminal conspiracy.

"During interrogation she admitted that she had knowingly posed as a schoolgirl in the sting. Rashmi also admitted that she was deliberately involved in the operation and took the name of Sarika," police said in the court.

Reacting to the sting operation, Live India CEO Sudhir Chaudhry said that Prakash, who conducted the sting, had kept his organisation in dark.

"All we can say is that Prakash kept us all in dark about the second half of the sting operation," Chaudhry told a television news channel during an interview.

The TV channel's so-called sting report last week had led to a mob going berserk at the government-run school in central Delhi where Khurana worked.

The mob had manhandled her. She was arrested, remanded in judicial custody and promptly sacked by the education department of the Delhi government.

Khurana's counsel Vivek Sharma has filed a petition in a court seeking bail for his client.

"The court will hear her bail petition on Monday," Sharma told reporters.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court took suo motu cognisance of the news reports on the sting operation and issued notices to the Delhi Government and Delhi Police.

A bench headed by Chief Justice M.K. Sarma asked the state government and Delhi Police to file their replies by Monday to the allegation in the sting operation.