Ghaziabad: Pre-natal sex determination centre busted by Haryana officials

Officials of Ghaziabad and Sonepat busted the ultrasound centre at Nandgrama and arrested an alleged tout

Acting on a tip-off, officials of Ghaziabad and Sonepat in Haryana busted an ultrasound centre at Nandgram in Ghaziabad where pre-natal sex determination tests were allegedly conducted.

The FIR was lodged under the provisions of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act.(Photo for representation purpose only/HT)

The officials on Thursday also lodged an FIR under the provisions of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act and the Indian Penal Code’s section for criminal conspiracy, at the Sihani Gate police station.

The action was taken after health department officials from Sonepat got a tip-off about a woman, Suman, from Begumpur in Delhi who allegedly worked as a tout for the Nandgram clinic.

According to the FIR lodged by the Sonepat officials on Thursday, they deployed a decoy to trap Suman and a deal was finalised for Rs35,000.

On July 20, Suman allegedly agreed to take the decoy to Nandgram after she was handed over Rs35,000 at her house in Delhi. Officials had noted down the numbers of the currency notes handed to Suman by the woman serving as a decoy.

The woman was later taken to Nidan ultrasound clinic at Nandgram where the sex-determination procedure was conducted and the sex of her foetus was discovered, according to the complaint. In the raid by officials that followed, other persons fled but Suman was nabbed and several notes whose numbers were already noted were recovered from her possession.

“Suman was later arrested and produced before a court from where she was sent to judicial custody. The owner of the ultrasound centre and another tout, Najma, are absconding along with an unidentified person who conducted the ultrasound. Teams have been formed to trace the remaining accused,” said the spokesperson to Ghaziabad’s senior superintendent of police (SSP).

In a similar case on June 26, joint teams of officials from Sonepat and Ghaziabad raided an ultrasound centre in Loni and sealed the unit. They also lodged a case against the doctor operating the clinic where alleged sex determination procedures were conducted on a decoy customer.