Chennai, Feb. 7: A surgeon who clicked obscene photographs of women patients with hidden cameras and uploaded them on the Net was today jailed for life by a fast-track court which said his crimes deserved the “maximum sentence”.

City-based “porn doctor” L. Prakash had been arrested in December 2001 in the case — one of the first in the country registered under the information technology act — that later blew up into a sensational sex scandal.

Sending out a stern message to those who try to abuse the Net, judge R. Radha said the orthopaedic surgeon got the “maximum sentence” under relevant provisions of the law as his crimes were not of an “ordinary nature”.

The court also jailed three others — Saravanan, Vijayan and Asir — for seven years. A fifth accused in the case, Nixon, was acquitted.

Prakash had been charged with seeking sexual favours from his women patients, secretly videographing the moments of intimacy and then posting them on the Net.

According to the prosecution, the doctor asked his assistants to record the scenes and later sent the footage to his younger brother in the US, who in turn posted the clippings on pornographic websites to earn money.

PTI said a relative of one of the victims, who came across one such clipping in the US, alerted Tamil Nadu police, who swung into action.

Sources said Prakash had also floated his own website in India to post the clippings.

The judge handed down life imprisonment to Prakash under the immoral traffic (prevention) act, and ordered another two years under the indecent representation of women (prohibition) act.

The surgeon got five years under the information technology act and was sentenced to varying jail terms under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including a 10-year term on charges related to abduction of women.

He was also sentenced for seven years under the arms act for illegal possession of weapons.

However, the prosecution couldn’t prove charges of rape and attempt to murder .

As all the terms are to run concurrently, the life imprisonment will prevail.

The judge also slapped on the doctor hefty fines adding up to Rs 1.25 lakh.

Prakash, lodged in Chennai Central Prison since January 2002, had appealed for bail several times but his pleas were rejected as further revelations on his ingenious modus operandi came to light with the confessions of Ganesh, an alleged associate.

After the sentences were read in the open court this afternoon, the judge ordered all the accused to be taken back to the central jail.