Lucknow, Sep 6 (IANS): In a horrifying incident, a quack who operated on an infant at a clinic in Moradabad, 335 km from the Uttar Pradesh capital, allegedly scooped out his brains and later fled the city, police Thursday said.

The incident came to light after a post-mortem report conducted on the two-month-old baby boy inferred that the quack had scooped out the baby's brains. The report was submitted to police Wednesday (Sep 5).

The boy was operated upon last week by Dr Iftiqaar Adil after he suffered from prolonged fever.

The infant died this week and his family and relatives created a ruckus at the local police station, alleging that the doctor had "unnecessarily operated upon him", leading to his death. Muniya, the infant's mother had complained to the Nagphani police station, alleging foul play and seeking action. While the police ordered an autopsy, it refused to arrest the doctor, citing procedural reasons.

After the autopsy report inferred that the brain of the infant was missing, the cops raided Dr Adil's clinic, but by then he had fled after locking up his clinic.

Santosh Yadav, the chief medical officer (CMO) of Moradabad has ordered a probe into the matter and has assured that the guilty doctor would be brought to book. "I have ordered a probe into the matter, it is indeed shocking" he said.

Mukesh Kumar, station officer of Nagphani police station told IANS that a case has been registered against the quack after the post-mortem report was received. "We are on the lookout for the doctor and hope to arrest him soon," he added. A copy of the post- mortem, he said had been sent to the health department for "appropriate action" as well.

Doctor Ranjan Gautam, head of a local health department squad against quacks (called 'Jhola Chhaap' locally) has also been asked to conduct a probe into the incident.

Hetram Saini, father of the deceased infant has demanded that the killer doctor be immediately arrested or else he would launch an agitation. "They have killed my son without any reason or fault of his or the family. How will we be compensated," he told IANS.

The quack, like many of his ilk, had been running his clinic for several years in the city, with fake degrees like BUMS, BARUB and DNHE (Delhi). Health department officials admitted to IANS that hundreds of quacks were still "freely roaming and killing" in the state which is hit by paucity of proper medicare.

The Allahabad High Court is monitoring the matter for apprehending and prosecuting quacks in terms of the directions issued by Supreme Court in the case of D.K. Joshi vs. State of U.P. and others (2000). The Uttar Pradesh Health and Family Welfare Department's secretary has been directed to take "such steps as may be necessary to stop the carrying on of the medical profession in the state of Uttar Pradesh by persons who are unqualified/unregistered".