Illegal sex determination centre uncovered in Ludhiana, three held

The arrests came following a sting operation by Dr Balwinder Kaur, deputy civil surgeon and nodal officer for Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques, Ambala

Police have arrested three people, including a woman, for running an illegal sex determination centre at Jagera village.

The accused played a fake video on their laptop, pretending it was a scan and lied about the gender. (Getty Images)

The arrests came following a sting operation by Dr Balwinder Kaur, deputy civil surgeon and nodal officer for Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT), Ambala.

The accused have been identified as Gurnam Kaur, her nephew Gurjant Singh and their aide Lakhwinder Singh.

On Saturday, the Ambala health department sent a decoy pregnant woman to the accused’s centre after informing the Ludhiana civil surgeon.

When the woman sought to know the gender of the foetus, the accused played a fake video on their laptop, pretending it was her scan and lied about the gender.

The health department team caught them red-handed, and seized the laptop and ₹12,500 in cash that they had taken from the woman.

“No ultrasound machine was recovered from the centre. They were simply conning gullible patients on the pretext of disclosing the gender of the foetus,” said inspector Sukhdev Singh, station house officer (SHO), Dehlon police station.

He shared that Gurnam was arrested for the same crime in September 2020. But she did not mend her ways and started another centre after relocating.

A case under Sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and PNDT Act has been registered against the accused.