Quack defrauds couple in guise of sex determination test

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Sirsa, March 5

Quacks have been duping couples in the guise of revealing the sex of their unborn babies without actually performing any test in the district.

The police today arrested a quack and his accomplice for duping a person of Rs 12,000 to determine the sex of his pregnant wife’s unborn child.

Naresh Kumar, a quack and his accomplice Jagdish hail from Kelnia village of Sirsa and have been booked under Sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC and under various provisions of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act.

Social activist Amar Singh, who helped the health authorities nab the two accused, maintained that this practise had been continuing in Sirsa for quite some time and he had been shadowing the accused for the past many days.

Civil Surgeon Dr Surender Nain said Vishal Garg, an ultrasound centre owner, had informed them that Naresh had brought a pregnant woman to his centre for determining the general wellbeing of the foetus.

The doctor informed the health authorities that he overheard Naresh telling the woman’s husband that he had paid his Rs 12000 to the doctor and he would soon reveal the sex of the foetus.

Garg told them that he had neither demanded nor received Rs 12000 and the ultrasound he performed on the woman was only for determining the wellbeing of the foetus, Nain added.

By the time the health authorities reached the hospital, Singh had already called the police and had detained the accused. On frisking, the police recovered Rs 12.000 from Naresh’s pocket. The duo claimed that were being framed.