Illegal sex determination racket busted in Rohtak, Gynaecologist among 6 others arrested

Rohtak: An illegal sex determination racket has been recently busted by the special team of Rohtak Health Department at a clinic run near Jat Bhawan. A gynaecologist, who owns the clinic, along with five other individuals, were arrested after being caught red-handed while conducting a sex determination test on the unborn child of a pregnant woman, who had been sent as a decoy.

During this raid, the team discovered that pregnant women from Rohtak were being taken to Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh for sex determination of the fetus. The accused used a portable ultrasound machine to conduct these illegal tests. A deal for one such test was finalized at Rs 65,000 with the decoy woman.

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The team conducted a 450-km chase to Sarurpur Kalan village in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, and arrested six individuals, including a female doctor from Rohtak, who played a major role in this operation. The accused allegedly performed the sex determination on the decoy women using a portable machine at Sahib Singh's residence in the village of Sarurpur, Baghpat, under the direction of Dr Tiyagi.

As per the Financial World news report, the operation was led by Rohtak's Deputy Commissioner and Civil Surgeon, who formed a special team under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) Act. The raid was conducted in coordination with the police and included nodal officer for PNDT, Dr Vishwajit Rathi, along with medical officers Dr Vishal Chaudhary and Dr Mohit Gill, Senior Medical Officer Dr Sanjeev Malik, dental surgeon Dr Vikas Saini, and Assistant Medical Officer Dr Vijay. The team also featured MPHW Ranjit, IA Deepak Sharma, Joginder, HC Rajesh Balhara, and other police personnel.

The incident took place on December 17 when the health department planned a decoy operation and sent the pregnant woman to Sarurpur along with two women. The accused doctor, who runs the clinic, travelled from Delhi to Baghpat and provided the contact information of the decoy pregnant woman.

At the arranged time, a woman named Reena met the pregnant woman at the Delhi bypass and entered the vehicle with her. Another accomplice, Santosh, joined them in Peeragarhi. During their journey, they also picked up a man named Rahul Bhati. In the end, a young man known as Dr Tiyagi drove the entire group to Sarurpur village in Baghpat.

The accused Dr Tiyagi conducted the test with a portable machine in Sahib Singh’s house, where a person named Shivraj was also present. The team, along with police personnel, raided the location and caught the suspects red-handed. A portable ultrasound machine and cash of Rs 24,000 were seized during the raid.

However, this was not the first attempt by the health department to expose the gang. A raid was conducted earlier on December 14 but it was unsuccessful as the suspects grew suspicious of a health team member posing as a client.

Also read- Violation of PC PNDT Act: Licence of three ultrasound centres suspended, show cause notice issued