The foetus has been sent for a medical examination and further probe is underway (Representational)

A female foetus, around five-months-old, was found inside a watermelon rind dumped in a drain at a village in Uttar Pradesh's Noida, police said Tuesday.

A sanitation worker had spotted the foetus on Monday in Gejha village in Sector 93, they said.

"Ravindra alias Kallu, sanitation worker, had alerted police about the foetus in the drain while he was working outside a house in the village around 11 am," Station House Officer, Phase 2 police station, Farmood Ali Pundir said.

"The female foetus was spotted inside a watermelon rind that was dumped in the drain," he said, adding that the foetus appeared to be five-month-old.

A complaint has been registered in the matter against unidentified persons under the Indian Penal Code Section 318 (concealment of birth by secret disposal of body), the SHO said.

The foetus has been sent for a medical examination and further probe is underway, he added.

Abortion is illegal in India but can be performed up to 20 weeks under certain circumstances as mentioned in the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971. In rare cases, abortion has also been allowed by courts beyond 20 weeks of pregnancy.

The government in Uttar Pradesh, which has a poor child sex ratio of 902 girls to 1,000 boys, according to 2011 census, had brought in ''Mukhbir Yojna'' in 2017 to check illegal abortions in the state by offering monetary rewards to informers.