Berhampur: Thirteen people were arrested as a major racket of foetus sex determination, which was being done in connivance with some private nursing homes, was busted in Odisha’s Ganjam district, police said Friday.
A police team raided a clinic at Anand Nagar in Berhampur city, around 160 km south of Bhubaneswar, on Thursday following inputs about the sex detection test, which is banned in India.
The main suspect, Durga Prasad Nayak, who runs the clinic at his residence, was found conducting tests using ultrasound machines. Eleven pregnant women were present at the first floor of the house for tests, a police officer said.
The 41-year-old was running the centre to determine the sex of the foetus in connivance with some of the nursing homes in the city for the past three years, according to police.
Those arrested include the employees of various nursing homes in the city who allegedly took the pregnant women to the centre, Superintendent of Police Saravana Vivek M said.
A noted public health activist was also among those nabbed. Two other suspects used to pick up the patients from different clinics, the SP said.
They have been booked under the IPC and the Preconception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act. An investigation is on to nab others who were involved in the racket, the officer said.
PTI
