Ghaziabad: Four men have been arrested in Ghaziabad for allegedly being involved in illegally conducting sex determination tests, and performing abortions at a private hospital, the police said on Sunday.
Police did not identify if the suspects are medical professionals or not. But officials said the suspects used to charge between ₹5,000 to 10,000 per test for abortion, and would check the gender in a car. “On Saturday, they checked two pregnant women for gender determination and another woman was waiting to be checked,” reads the FIR registered at the Kotwali Nagar police station.
“Late Saturday night, a tip-off was received that a gang involved in illegally identifying gender and performing abortions had reached near Mahamaya Stadium. We alerted administrative officials and a police team laid a trap to nab the suspects,” Upasana Pandey, ACP, Kotwali told HT.
The officer said the suspects were found in a Ghaziabad-registered Maruti Suzuki Ertiga.
“During investigation, they revealed that they identify gender and perform abortions at one of the suspects’ hospital. Two of the four suspects were involved in bringing pregnant women (as clients),” the ACP added.
An ultrasonography (USG) machine, probe gel, an SUV, and ₹20,000 in cash were recovered from suspects’ possession, said officials.
It was also revealed that the suspects had been involved in the illegal activity for some time. It is now being probed how many genders were identified and abortions were carried out by them, said the ACP.
The suspects have been booked under sections 61(2) (criminal conspiracy), 318(4) (cheating), and 319 (cheating by personation) of the BNS and relevant sections of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, and further investigation is underway, said officials.