Although it was not immediately known if they were female foetuses, hundreds of people gathered on the spot to have a glance of the plastic containers with uteruses and foetuses inside.

"It is really shocking that foeticide is taking place in such a scale in the Capital city," a local said.

"The sex of the foetuses will be known only after examination," Chief Medical Officer of the government-run Capital Hospital Loknath Acharya said.

Bhubaneswar Diagnostic and Polyclinic from where the foetuses were recovered is located about 300 metres away from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's house.

Police came to know of the foetuses after they were informed about it by members of a local youth club who noticed the jars lying behind the clinic.

The clinic was immediately sealed in the presence of Acharya and senior officials of the Khurda District Administration. Two employees of the diagnostic centre were also taken into custody for questioning.

"Doctors running private clinic sometimes keep foetuses for experiment, but the manner of disposal by those running the diagnostic centre certainly raises suspicion," an official observed.

Police would be able to register a case after medical examination of the foetuses, according to Khurda Superintendent of Police Amitav Thakur.

Large scale female foeticide in the State had come to light when a school student spotted some polythene bags containing seven female foetuses near Nayagarh town on July 14.

Subsequently, Nayagarh police recovered a large quantity of infant body parts from inside a pit on the outskirts of the town. The pit was being used by a nursing home for dumping bio-medical waste.

At least eight persons, including two doctors, have been arrested in connection with the Nayagarh case so far. Arrest of several other doctors was likely.

The Chief Minister, who has ordered a Crime Branch probe into the Nayagarh female foeticide case, had on Monday refused to fulfill the Opposition demand for CBI probe into the case.

Meanwhile, the police and health authorities continued raids on nursing homes and diagnostic centres in different parts of the State. A number of nursing homes and ultrasound clinics have already been sealed.

Earlier in the day, activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad organised a signature campaign against female foeticide and infanticide by putting up a large banner near Rama Devi Women's College of the city. Hundreds of students put their signature on the banner to protest against female foeticide in the State.