TIRUPATHUR: A duo was arrested in Tirupathur on Wednesday for running an illegal sex determination centre. In a sting operation, Sugumar (53) and his accomplice Vediyappan, an AIADMK cadre, were caught red-handed by Directorate of Medical Services officials. The action was based on a tip-off. The incident happened at Kathirapatti village, 8kms from Tirupathur, where there are no proper roads or heavy vehicles can enter.
According to officials, Sugumar received training from a doctor and started doing the scan on pregnant women. Using a portable scanning machine, he used to run the illegal sex determination scan centres at various places in the forest areas of Tirupathur.
"He was doing the scanning in a small room near a motor pump set in the field. Around 10 pregnant women were waiting for scans," M Kamala Kannan, Superintendent, Directorate of Medical Services earlier told TNIE. Officials from the Health Department in Chennai, Tirupathur Joint Director of Health Services, Government Hospital Chief Medical Officer and others were involved in the operation.
Seven women from Dharmapuri and three from Tiruvannamalai came to the accused to know the gender, the accused said adding that he charges `8,000 for a scan. He earns around `80,000 a day.
The scanning machine is banned in the country and is difficult to acquire. We are still baffled as to how he got the machine, Tirupathur Joint Director of Health Services Dr Marimuthu told TNIE.
According to sources he has been doing this for 20 years and was arrested multiple times but managed to escape. Even this time, influential people including Ministers are putting pressure on the police to arrest him, the sources added.
(with inputs from Sinduja Jane, Chennai)