Shilpa Shetty detained at Mumbai Airport

Shilpa Shetty arrested in India - or was she?

Shilpa Shetty has been detained at Mumbai Airport, allegedly over her sacrilegious smooch with Richard Gere earlier this year.

The Big Brother celebrity's Indian spokesman, Dale Bhagwagar, claims: 'She called me in the middle of the night and was in tears.'

However, her UK spokeswoman says the whole story has been blown out of proportion. 'Every time Shilpa leaves the country she has to show her paperwork, because of the Richard Gere thing,' Teji Singh told reporters this morning.

'There was absolutely no detention, no arrest whatsoever. She was rummaging through to get her paperwork and just stepped aside to a side room so she wouldn't block the queues. She wasn't crying. She was bunged up with the flu and she was only in there for eight to 15 minutes.'

After the incident in April, when Gere swooped Shetty into a Bollywood-style embrace at an HIV/Aids awareness event in New Delhi, a warrant was issued for the pair's arrest. However, the Supreme Court ruling was later overturned, leaving Shetty free to fly in and out of the country whenever she wants - if only the airport officials would let her.