Ludhiana: Sex determination racket busted, 3 held

The arrests followed a raid by Ludhiana district family welfare officer Dr Harpreet Singh and his team at the ultrasound centre

The local police on Monday arrested three persons, including two women, for allegedly running an illegal sex determination centre being run in a residential building at Mangli Nichhi.

Health officials while confiscating portable ultrasound machine during the raid in Ludhiana on Monday. (HT Photo)

The accused have been booked under sections 3-A, 3-B, 23, 25 of PC PNDT Act and Prevention of Corruption Act

The arrests followed a raid by district family welfare officer Dr Harpreet Singh and his team at the ultrasound centre. They also confiscated a portable ultrasound machine being operated for prenatal sex determination from the building.

According to information, the health officials raided the place where the accused were allegedly running an illegal ultrasound centre.

Deputy mass media officer Rajinder Singh said after getting tipped-off tipping from a source, an undercover couple was sent by the team on the pretext of getting a sex determination test done.

“The couple was first called at Samrala chowk from where they were asked to come outside Fortis hospital. After that a woman riding a two-wheeler took them to a scanning center,” he said.

Sing alleged that the accused tried bribing the team by offering them ₹4.98 lakh.

“We collected the bribe amount from the location pinned by them and handed it over to the police,” Rajinder said.

Civil Surgeon Dr. Hitinder Kaur, giving information in this regard, said, “the patient was sent as a decoy with ₹32,000 in marked currency notes to bust the racket. A total of ₹30,000 were recovered from the spot which matched the notes marked by the department.”

“If any owner of ultrasound centres running across the district is found violating the instructions of the health department, strict action will be taken against them,” Kaur said.