Pramesh S Jain & Dr.Thomas (Special Correspondent)
C
ontinuing investigations into the sex determination racket busted in October,the Baiyyapanahalli police established a link of Mysuru based doctor and his staff operating for the last two years.
The police team raided and seized the private hospital owned by the doctor and detained his wife,receptionist and lab technician who are part of the racket .
Earlier on October 25,alert beat police caught five people who were driving the SUV with a pregnant woman on Old Madras road in a suspicious manner during random vehicle check.
The police confronted the accused and questioned the women on suspicion who told the police that they had gone to a jaggery processing unit converted into make shift lab in Mandya where a scan was done and the sex of her foetus was determined.
The police arrested the accused and further investigations revealed that they are operating since the last two years in the city,Mandya and Mysuru carrying out around 20 sex determination tests and abortion per month and charging between Rs.20,000 to Rs.25,000 per process .
The police during the course of investigations traced around six women who under went the process and notices have been served to record their statement .
Senior officer told reporters,Prime accused in the racket,is owner of Mathaa Hospital at Udayagiri in Mysuru Dr. Chandan Ballal,is on the run now.
Those arrested are 41-year-old Dr.Tulasiraman,a Chennai-based doctor,manager of Mathaa Hospital, 38-year-old C.M.Meena,wife of Dr.Chandan Ballal, hospital receptionist and a resident of Mandi Mohalla 38-year-old Rizma Khanum,and lab technician Nissar.
When the racket was busted,the Police had arrested 50-year-old Shivalingegowda,alias Shivu,from Mysuru, 36-year-old Nayan Kumar,36, from Mandya district, 35-year-old T.M.Veeresh from Davanagere district and 43-year-old Naveen Kumar, from Mandya district.
The group allegedly operated for the past two years in Bengaluru,Mysuru and Mandya areas in an organised manner.
The group has aborted over 900 female foetuses in the last two years.
Police have seized Mathaa Hospital at Udayagiri and Ayurvedic Piles Daycare Centre on Rajkumar Road in Mysuru,where abortions were conducted.The group charged Rs.25,000 to determine sex of the foetus and Rs.50,000 to abort it.
One of the accused during investigation told the Police that he and his group of men target pregnant women who don’t want a female child and they use a portable ultrasound machine to detect the gender of the embryo in pregnant women.
If they find the foetus is a female child,they will direct the pregnant woman to Dr.Tulasiraman for an abortion.
He also said that he would get a commission of Rs. 10,000 for directing each pregnant woman for abortion and revealed that his team had scanned at least 720 pregnant women.
Dr.Tulasiraman is a paediatrician from Chennai and the Police also found that Dr.Tulasiraman contacted Dr. Chandran Ballal to perform foeticide.
Dr.Ballal and his wife had performed abortions for many women at the now seized Mathaa Hospital in Mysuru.
Three years ago,Dr.Tulasiraman sold his hospital to Dr. Ballal.
The doctors coordinated through Ballal’s receptionist, Rizma Khanum and Dr.Ballal conducted the procedures at his hospital and Ayurvedic Piles Daycare Centre in Mysuru.
Shivalingegowda had worked in laboratories and Veeresh worked with Dr.Mallikarjun,who is his uncle.
Nayan Kumar and Naveen Kumar would identify pregnant women who wanted to know the sex of their foetuses.
One of the accused has a sugarcane farm in Mandya and that there is a jaggery processing unit (alemane) within the farm where they conducted the tests.They have set up all necessary equipment there to conduct the tests.
We are yet to ascertain where the scanning machine was sourced from.The accused have claimed that they got an old scanning machine repaired.
To procure and also to dispose of the scanning machine,one needs permission and they should have a record of it.
The Police are looking into the potential involvement of Shivalingegowda’s wife,Sunanda.
She is suspected of approaching pregnant women and informing them about the illegal sex-determination facility.Her reach reportedly extended to women in Bengaluru,Mysuru,Davanagere,Mandya and other parts of the State through friends and relatives.
The Police have identified seven women,all from middle-class families,who have undergone such tests.
They said notices were issued to the women.Of these, one woman gave birth to her second girl child and aborted the pregnancy as she wanted a son.
The others were first-time mothers and aborted their pregnancy after learning that they were carrying female children.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that strict action will be taken against those who are involved in the case.
He was speaking after garlanding the statue of Ambedkar in front of Vidhan Soudha on Sunday on the occasion of Constitution Day of India.
“We will take strict action against whoever is guilty.A meeting will be held regarding it and appropriate action will be taken,”the CM said.
The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act,often known as the Prohibition of Sex Selection Act,was passed by the Parliament in 1994.
According to the Act, it is forbidden to employ any method to determine a foetus gender after conception.
Finally Karnataka CM,Siddaramaiah,Home Minister,Dr.G.Parameshwara,DG-IGP,Dr.Alok Mohan has appreciated Bengaluru City Police Commissioner,B Dayananda,Addl CP East,Raman Gupta DCP East D Devaraj and his whole team for their meticulous investigation and busting a sex determination racket which was illegally running from past 2 years and for the commendable and exemplary work done by them a special reward will be given to whole for busting the biggest sex determination racket he added.
