NEW YORK: A 57-year-old Indian-origin pediatrician in the US has been jailed for 30 years for sexual exploitation of a child and producing child pornography.

Rakesh Punn, of New York had pleaded guilty in April last year to producing child pornography, Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell of the Justice Department‘s Criminal Division said yesterday.

Mr Punn admitted that in September 2007, he sexually exploited a minor paediatric patient during a medical appointment at his home-office.

Mr Punn falsely diagnosed the child with an illness so that he could obtain unfettered access to her without her parents being present and then drugged and secretly photographed the girl.

At sentencing, the court found that Mr Punn engaged in a pattern of similar conduct with other patients and enhanced his sentence accordingly.

Mr Punn awaits sentencing on state charges also related to this conduct. He was arrested in July 2010 on preliminary charges of videotaping patients.

He was initially charged with abusing three children under the guise of giving them medical treatment. He admitted in April 2014 to sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl who was a patient in his office in Bethpage.