Bhubaneswar: Police today arrested 13 persons here on the charge of indulging in illegal sex determination tests of fetuses.
Accused persons arrested by Baidyanathpur police during raids have been identified as Durga Prasad Nayak (41), Akshay Dalei (24), Hari Mohan Dalei (42), Rina Pradhan (40), Rabindranath Satpathy (39), Kali Charan Bisoyi (38), Susanta Kumar Nanda (40), Padma Charan Bhuyan (60), Sibram Pradhan (37), Sumant Kumar Pradhan (30), Dhabaleswar Nayak (51), M Sujata (49) and Subash Chandra Rout (48).
Police have seized 2 Ultrasound machines, 1 mobile phone and Rs 18,200 in cash from their possession.
Addressing a presser, Berhampur SP Saravana Vivek M said that acting on a tip-off on illegal sex determination tests being conducted, police Thursday noon raided a house in Anandnagar of Ankuli locality under Baidyanathpur police limits.
During the raid at one Durga Prasad Nayak’s house it was found that sex determination tests of pregnant women were being conducted using two ultrasound machines, he added.
The SP informed that 11 pregnant women were present at the time of the raid.
Police informed the CDMO and asked for sending a team to the spot.
Later a team from the Health department reached the spot and conducted an inquiry.
Following this police arrested 13 persons including prime accused Durga Prasad Nayak, two middlemen and one ASHA worker.
Police sources said that it was a well established inter-state network.
The middlemen which are spread across clinics and hospitals used to gather pregnant women in small groups of 2-3 and then despatch them in autorickshaws to Durga Prasad’s house lest anyone suspect them, the sources added.
Police said that investigation so far has revealed that Durga Prasad was running the illegal sex selection centre for more than two-three years without any license and used the seized ultrasound machine illegally to determine the sex of the foetus of pregnant women.
Akshaya Kumar Dalai and Haramohan Dalai used to assist Durga Prasad Nayak by picking pregnant women from different places and then used to take them to the latter’s house for sex determination of the fetus, police added.
On Thursday ASHA worker Rina Pradhan had brought two pregnant women from her village for the test to Durga Prasad’s house and had received the commission amount from him, police said.
Other accused persons employed in different laboratories, and private clinics were found to be sending the pregnant women to the clinic through Akshaya Dalai and Haramohan Dalai for sex determination of fetus and were receiving commission from Durga Prasad regularly, police said explaining the modus operandi of the racket.
After sex determination of the fetus, the husbands of some of the pregnant ladies were found to have aborted the pregnancy if the sex of the fetus was found to be female, police said.
