A doctor arrested over the deaths of 13 women he had recently sterilised has blamed tainted post-surgery drugs.
Dr RK Gupta was arrested at a relative's home near Bilaspur city in Chhattisgarh state late on Wednesday, five days after the women were given surgery as part of a free government-run mass sterilisation campaign.
Eighty-three women were treated, but dozens became ill after returning home. Thirteen died and at least 16 are still critically ill in hospital.
"I have been performing surgeries for a long time and there has never been any problem," Dr Gupta told reporters in Bilaspur as he was arrested.
He also denied that his instruments were rusty or dirty.
Dr Gupta said health workers gave the women ciprofloxacin, a commonly prescribed antibiotic, and ibuprofen after the operations in an unused private hospital, which police have described as "filthy".
The state government banned the use of five batches of drugs and a batch of surgical cotton wool on Wednesday while investigations were carried out.
"I am not the culprit. I have been made scapegoat. It is the administration which is responsible for this incident," he said.
The doctor, who was awarded a state honour for his sterilisation work 10 years ago, faces charges of causing death by neglect.
Dr SK Mandal, the chief medical officer of Chhattisgarh state, said Gupta had breached government protocol by performing more than 80 procedures in six hours.
He earlier suggested the doctor might have been under pressure to meet the district's target of 15,000 sterilisations.
India carries out mass sterilisation programmes in an attempt to stabilise the country's soaring population.
Women in many Indian states are promised 1,400 rupees (€18.26) when they undergo laparoscopic, or "keyhole," sterilisation surgeries like those conducted in Bilaspur.
