Two Indian doctors are facing an investigation into claims they let their 15-year-old son perform a caesarean section to get into the Guinness Book of Records.

The government of Tamil Nadu state in southern India today said it was launching an inquiry, according to Indian newspaper reports.

It is alleged the doctors screened a video of their son performing the caesarean at a meeting of the regional branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) last month in the hope their son, Dhileepan Raj, would get into the record book as the world's youngest surgeon.

When doctors at the meeting in Manapparai expressed outrage, the boy's father, general surgeon K Murugesan, reportedly claimed he had not done anything illegal.

The Hindustan Times reported him as saying: "If a 10-year-old [in India] can drive a car and a 15-year-old can become a doctor in the US, what is wrong if my son, though not qualified, performs a surgery?"

In a separate interview with the doctor in the Tamil Kumudam Reporter, he was quoted as saying his son had done similar operations before.

The secretary of the state branch of the IMA, Dr TN Ravishankar, told the AFP news agency: "[Dr Murugesan] said there was no need for him to worry since it was no blue movie that he shot but only one showing his son's achievement."

Dr Ravishankar told the Deccan Chronicle that "Dr Murugesan turned abusive and even threatened to sue the IMA" when the doctors present protested that his actions "violated medical ethics and constituted a crime".

The baby was born with a congenital defect unrelated to the surgery and was believed to still be alive, AFP reported. The mother was reported to be in good health.

Doctors who saw the video reported the incident to the state medical council, prompting the order for an investigation.

Tamil Nadu health minister KKSSR Ramachandran told the Deccan Chronicle: "How can a doctor convert his nursing home into a butcher's shop by allowing his unqualified son to perform surgery? I am ordering an inquiry and tough action will be taken."

But witnesses do not have a copy of the video and the boy's parents now say he merely watched the operation.

His mother, Dr Gandhimathi, an obstetrician, told the Times of India: "Our son neither performed the surgery nor assisted my husband. He only watched the surgery. Since we want him to do his PhD, we thought it'd be good if he gets some first-hand knowledge."

If the boy is proven to have done the operation his parents could lose their medical licences.