SALEM/KRISHNAGIRI: An illegal prenatal sex determination gang, which operated a mobile scan unit across multiple districts in Tamil Nadu, was busted by a five-member special medical team at Vazhapadi in Salem using a decoy in the wee hours of Tuesday.
Three persons — R Venkatesan (43) of Cuddalore, and Vazhapadi residents Latha (43) and Sakthivel — were later arrested by the Vazhapadi police under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act for allegedly operating the unit.
Officials said Venkatesan, who has studied only up to Class 12, learnt to operate ultrasound equipment by watching YouTube videos. He had allegedly bought an old scan machine from Mettupalayam, fixed it inside a car and travelled from town to town, using local intermediaries to contact pregnant women via phone.
The gang allegedly travelled through several districts, including Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Cuddalore, Kallakurichi and Villupuram, collecting up to Rs 30,000 from pregnant women to illegally disclose the sex of the foetus in violation of PCPNDT Act.
Acting on a tip-off, health officials from Salem and Krishnagiri districts kept surveillance in Belur near Vazhapadi early on Tuesday.
Accused was conducting illegal scan for 3 pregnant women
The team members, who found the car parked behind a hall, entered a nearby house. Inside the house, Venkatesan was caught red-handed while scanning three pregnant women from different districts and revealing the sex of their unborn children. The team also arrested Latha, an alleged intermediary from Vazhapadi, and Sakthivel, the house owner of the rented premises.
Krishnagiri district health officer Dr G Ramesh Kumar said, “A five-member team from Krishnagiri district, along with a decoy mother, began travel from the district on Monday. When contacted, the miscreants involved in the sex determination racket asked us to reach Salem bus stand in the wee hours. Accordingly, our team reached Salem around 1.45am and waited for over an hour.”
He further said, “Later, our decoy mother and a 34-year-old antenatal mother from Dharmapuri, who already has two daughters, was asked to wait at the bus stand. Apart from this, a 25-year-old antenatal mother also waited at the bus stand. They were later asked to board a bus to Vazhapadi. However, our team followed the bus.”
“The antenatal and decoy mothers were taken to Belur from Vazhapadi bus stand by Venkatesan. We followed the car and caught the suspects red-handed,” Ramesh Kumar said. He further said that a 27-year-old antenatal mother from Chinnasalem had also come to the house for sex determination, Ramesh Kumar added.