An investigation by the CNN-IBN news channel showed three doctors taking money from the reporters, who said they were looking for medics to amputate beggars' limbs. There appears to be a thriving trade in Delhi where gangs kidnap beggars and force them to undergo surgery so that their deformities attract sympathy.

CNN-IBN news said the price to amputate limbs from healthy patients, an illegal act in India, ranged from 10,000 rupees to 40,000 rupees. It reported that there were 12,000 "handicapped" beggars in India's capital.

Police questioned one of the doctors, PK Bansal. He has denied the allegations. The two other doctors - Ajay Kumar Agarwal and Arvind Agarwal, the secretary of the Orthopaedic Association of Bareilly in northern India - have disappeared.

Police later dispersed an angry mob outside the home of Arvind Agarwal. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) said, if the reports were true, the licences of accused doctors would be revoked.

"Our Ethics Committee will look into the matter. This is a heinous crime and we will wait for the legal action. If these doctors are members of the IMA, their licences will be cancelled," said the IMA president, Sanjeev Malik.

The medical profession has been under increasing scrutiny from television channels which target corruption. Many doctors in India are accused of being more interested in money than ethics. Earlier this year in Punjab, journalists exposed doctors selling organs from poor patients.

Begging is widespread in large Indian cities. In Mumbai, which is home to some 300,000 beggars, there was uproar in the state assembly when politicians offered the city's beggars a "better way" to live through the central government's employment guarantee scheme. The programme assures 100 days of work every year in return for 60 rupees a day (about 75p).

Commentators wondered why beggars would leave their trade for such small amounts - it is estimated begging in Mumbai brings in 200 rupees a day.