The Orissa police have begun a detailed investigation into the recovery of body parts suspected to be that of newborns from a dry well at coastal Nayagarh town in Nayagarh district.

Deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, Yogesh Bahadur Khurania, said following a tip off on Sunday a police team led by Nayagarh Superintendent of Police(SP) recovered about 130 polythene bags from the dry well of which about 30 bags contained body parts suspected to be that of newborns. “The rest of the bags contained medical wastes,” he said.

The body parts included skulls and bones. Foetuses were also recovered from the spot. The seized body parts and foetuses have been sent for forensic tests. The bodies of the newly born babies were apparently dumped into the well after they were put in separate polythene bags.

The dry well located in an isolated place behind a school building was being used by a privately run nursing home, Krishna clinic, to dispose off medical waste. The owner of the Nayagarh-based clinic and her manager have been arrested by the police.  Police suspect that the dumping of the infants could be the handiwork of a racket involved in clandestine abortions.

Police officials also do not rule out the involvement of a pre-birth sex determination racket operating in the district. On July 14, five foetuses of female babies were found inside a deserted house near a hill in the outskirts of the coastal town.   

The July 14 incident had triggered strong protests from the locals as well as women and NGOs forcing the state government to order a probe by the crime branch of the state police into the incident. Sunday’s incident is also expected to be handed over to the crime branch.