Chandigarh, Aug. 9: Two doctors were arrested today for allegedly conducting illegal abortions and throwing the foetuses in a well.

“We have arrested Pritam Singh and his wife Amarjit Kaur for conducting illegal abortions under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. We are investigating the matter. They do not possess any licence required for carrying out abortions,” a Patiala district police officer said.

Pooja, a nurse at Sahib Nursing Home, which the couple owns, had complained yesterday about the abortions. She also said the aborted foetuses were thrown into a 30-foot-deep well adjacent to the nursing home in Patran near Patiala.

A police team today raided the nursing home and seized seven placentas and several rags containing flesh, which are perceived to be female foetuses. They have been sent to Rajindra Hospital in Patiala for examination. The police have also found equipment used to conduct abortions.

Patran is located close to the Haryana border. Both Haryana and Punjab are among the states with the worst sex ratios, especially in the 0-6 age group.

While Pritam has denied conducting the operations, his wife Amarjit admitted to “dropping foetuses” for couples who already have daughters.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that people used to come from Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and even Rajasthan for abortions. The health authorities have sealed two clinics, in Sangrur’s Dirba and Samana in Patiala, from where patients were referred to the Patran nursing home.

“We are looking at a very well organised racket that is spread all across north India,” a police officer said.

The police said the couple would charge anything between Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000 for the operations.

“They used to conduct between four and seven deliveries and abortions daily. Nobody else would be present when they would throw the foetuses in the well after mixing it with a powder for faster decomposition. This has been continuing for some months,” the officer said.