A 54-year-old British man has been arrested for allegedly sexually abusing three blind students at a school in the Indian capital.

Murray Dennis Ward had been associated with the New Delhi school run by the National Association for the Blind for nine years, initially as a donor and later as a volunteer teacher, police said.

School authorities contacted the police after the boys, aged 14 and 15, complained about the alleged abuse.

Ward appeared before a judge after his arrest on Monday, and was ordered to be held in police custody while investigations continued. Police have seized his laptop computer and mobile phone.

Ward, from Gloucestershire, had been working with a technology company in the New Delhi suburb of Gurgaon until April.

Police officer Ishwar Singh told reporters that the British High Commission in New Delhi has been informed of the arrest.