Ahmedabad foetuses: Doctor says foetuses were 15 years old

Dr Jayanti Patel, the man who is accused of dumping 14 foetuses in a heap of garbage in Bapunagar has confessed to keeping them as specimen for parents in his clinic. He also told the Bapunagar police that the foetuses were at least 15 years old, denying allegations that they were recent.

Police inspector of Bapunagar police station, RG Pandya told DNA that Dr Patel has claimed that the foetuses were 15 years old and he kept them in his clinic as specimens. Police officials confirmed that Patel was a certified doctor with an MBBS degree and a Diploma in Gynaecology and Obstetrics (DGO).

"He has been running a clinic called Purna Maternity for the last 25 years. He has said that he kept the specimens to help parents in aborting a child in case it was found to be abnormal," Pandya said.

However, officials said that at present Pandya has been booked only for creating public nuisance. Officials said that other appropriate sections will be invoked against him once the Civil Hospital gives a post-mortem report of the dead foetuses.

"Once we have the post-mortem report, we can book him under other sections as well," Pandya said. Patel was nabbed by a team of the AMC's health department and the police on Monday night. Patel had told the police that he dumped the foetuses, which he was carrying while traveling in a rickshaw, because they had been spoiled after they fell out.

DNA had reported that 14 foetuses were found in a heap of garbage next to the Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium in Bapunagar. A team of the police reached the spot and took away the foetuses. FSL officials also examined the foetuses and found that they had been preserved using chemicals. Although sources said that all the foetuses were female, police officials maintained that their gender could only be determined once the post-mortem report arrives.