CUTTACK: Two more persons were arrested on Wednesday by Commissionerate Police for allegedly arranging pregnant women who were willing to undergo sex determination at Alfa Healthcare Clinic in Cuttack.
The accused are Santosh Kumar Lenka alias Pintu(34) of Poparada in Tangi and Hrusikesh Sahoo alias Tutu (43) of Bari Daragha in Jajpur. While Pintu is the proprietor of Prime Diagnostic at Kathagola Road, Tutu is the owner of Jay Jagannath medicine store located in Metro Manorama complex at Malha Sahi.
"Both Pintu and Tutu were acting as middlemen for the owner of Alfa Healthcare Clinic Prasanna Kumar Sahoo and his assistant Basant Kumar Bardhan. They used to identify and send pregnant women to Prasanna’s clinic for sex determination. Prasanna used to pay them well for the work," informed ACP Ajay Das.
Pintu and Tutu were forwarded to court which remanded them in judicial custody.
Police informed that there are 22 more brokers who were engaged by Prasanna in the 10 neighbouring districts for bringing pregnant women to his clinic for sex determination. Das said three special police teams have been constituted under the supervision of DCP Prateek Singh to arrest them at the earliest.
Police had on Monday sealed Alfa Healthcare Clinic for carrying out sex determination tests and arrested both Prasanna and Basant. The clinic was running without registration for the last six months at Kathagola Sahi.
Prasanna, a Plus Two pass-out used to conduct at least 15 to 20 sex determination tests per day and for each such test, he used to charge Rs 5,000. Under Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994, sex determination is illegal.