Calcutta, Aug. 22: The Ghoshs of Moukhali in Canning went into celebrations last January when they came to know that their daughter-in-law Anima had conceived twin male babies.

It did not take long for their joy to turn sour. They blamed the doctor and the nursing home he was attached to for the turn of events. The accused pleaded helplessness.

The doctor under whose care she was and the owner of the nursing home apparently misled Anima and her husband Sanjib into believing that their babies were fine. All of a sudden, Anima was advised to undergo a premature delivery as the babies were “in danger”. After a half-an-hour operation, they were told that the pregnancy had to be aborted.

The couple had approached Pradip Nath, the owner of Dipanjan Nursing Home in Canning, about 70 km from Calcutta, in January. “Nath referred us to Shyamal Ranjan Sarkar, a gynaecologist attached to the nursing home. I visited him regularly,” Anima said.

Sarkar referred Anima to a private clinic for ultrasonography for a second time in May. “I knew I was carrying twins from the earlier report. Two months away from the date of delivery scheduled by Sarkar, we were told that the babies were fine,” said Anima.

Sanjib recounted that they reached the nursing home at 8 am on June 3 for the pre-mature delivery. The nursing home had demanded Rs 25,000 for it. “She was wheeled away. After about half-an-hour, Sarkar and Nath told us that they had to carry out an abortion as the babies were dead,” Sanjib alleged.

Anima lodged a complaint with police and Sarkar and Nath were arrested on charges of committing an act to prevent a child from being born alive and for giving a declaration knowing it to be false.

The Alipore court granted bail to Sarkar following his counsel’s argument that the doctor had nothing to do with the money (Rs 25,000) Nath had taken. “If he had not carried out the abortion, the woman could have been in danger resulting in death. He knows nothing about the financial transaction between the patient party and the owner of the nursing home,” he told the court. Nath is also out on bail.

Sarkar, however, denied having conducted the operation. “The resident medical officer had performed it. I told the patient in details about the dead foetus and advised her to get the abortion done.”