Inter-state sex test gang busted, 4 held

During a decoy operation, the PCPNDT cell of the state health department busted an inter-state sex determination gang. It was the 134th decoy operation by the cell in which, a doctor, his aide, one middleman from Rajasthan and one female from Punjab were arrested.

It was the 39th inter-state decoy operation and the sixth in Punjab conducted by the cell. State appropriate authority Navin Jain said that the arrested accused Raman Agrawal, a 56-year-old doctor and his aide Satpal Singh were caught performing gender determination tests at Divine Care hospital in Moga, Punjab.

Two others arrested are Jagdish Verma of Lalgarh Jatan in Shriganganagar and Rajpal Kaur from Bathinda in Punjab. The team also recovered a sonography machine and the amount taken by the accused from the pregnant woman of the PCPNDT decoy team.

"There were inputs that Jagdeesh, who plays the role of a middleman for Dr Raman, was indulged in the racket were he took pregnant women from Hanumangarh and nearby areas to Punjab for illegal sex determination," Jain said.

"Followed by confirmation of information, a special team was constituted under the Pre-Conception Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique (PCPNDT) Act. After following the accused for three to four days, a team member contacted Jagdeesh on Thursday," said Jain.

Satapal took the pregnant woman inside the Divine Care hospital where Dr Raman Agrawal conducted the sex determination test. The PCPNDT team continued to follow them through GPS and on the tip of the woman, the team caught the doctor and Satpal red-handed. Jagdeesh was held in the parking lot.