Sex-determination racket busted in Ambala, two held
Touts reportedly demanded Rs 75K for test, trapped with decoy’s help
A joint team of health officials from Kurukshetra and Ambala districts busted a sex-determination test racket in Ambala on Thursday evening and arrested two persons.
A case has been registered against Mohit, Naina and Rohit, under sections of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Ambala City police station on the complaint Dr Rishi Pal, nodal officer for PC-PNDT, Ambala.
Kurukshetra Deputy Civil Surgeon and nodal officer for PC-PNDT Dr Ramesh Sabharwal said the health authorities got a tip-off that some touts were active in areas near Shahabad and were running a sex-determination racket. Following the tip-off, a team of the department was formed. In January-end, the team came to know about a tout, Mohit, who was working as a class 4 employee in a private hospital in the city.
After a contact was established with Mohit, a resident of Ambala, he said a doctor would conduct sex-determination test in Shahabad. He reportedly demanded Rs 75,000 for the test. As per his instructions, Rs 20,000 were transferred into the bank account of Naina, who worked in another private hospital in Ambala, as an advance payment on February 6. They said the test would be conducted in Shahabad on February 11. The Health Department team arranged a decoy woman to trap the accused.
As per Dr Sabharwal, on February 11 after keeping the decoy waiting, the tout refused to get the test conducted as the woman’s husband was not accompanying her. He insisted on the presence of her husband and said the test would be conducted on February 12.
However, the tout agreed to get the test done and asked the decoy to reach Ambala for the test. Naina sent her driver Rohit and told the decoy to follow his car.
The woman was taken to Madan Hospital in Ambala City where an ultrasound was conducted. The tout took the remaining Rs 55,000 from the decoy and told her that the report will be given after two days.
On getting a signal, the Health Department team caught Rohit on the spot. He disclosed that the money was with Mohit.
On his disclosure, Mohit was apprehended and Rs 39,000 recovered from him. He claimed to have deposited the remaining amount into a bank account.
The duo was taken to a police station. A case has been registered against the three touts and further investigation is on. The involvement of other people and the hospital staff will be ascertained during the investigation, the deputy civil surgeon said.
