Pete Townshend, the rock guitarist and co-founder of the Who, was arrested today on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children.

Mr. Townshend, 57, had acknowledged this weekend that he had used an Internet site advertising child pornography, but he said he had been doing it in connection with his research for an autobiography that chronicles his suspected abuse when he was a child.

He came forward on Saturday after a weekend newspaper published a story saying a major rock star was among people being investigated by the police as part of a major international child pornography investigation. Mr. Townshend said he would welcome a police investigation of his computer to absolve him of any suspicion of being a pedophile.

The police said they took the musician into custody under the Protection of Children Act after spending four hours searching his business offices and his home in Richmond, Surrey, an exclusive suburb on London's southwest border. They said they had taken computers from the home and were examining them.