Sex-determination racket busted in NCR, doctor among two held in decoy operation

Authorised by the District Appropriate Authority, Dr Solanki and Medical Officer Dr Harish Kumar laid a trap, enlisting a pregnant woman from Faridabad to act as a decoy. The Gurgaon team coordinated with Meerut authorities to carry out the operation on Thursday.

The decoy met Nadeem at the diagnostic centre and negotiated a fee of Rs 15,000. After accepting the marked currency, Nadeem allegedly bypassed all legally mandated paperwork and took the woman to an ultrasound room, officials said. Inside, a doctor identified as Dr Krishan Kabir conducted the scan using an unregistered machine and declared the foetus to be male, they added.

Upon receiving a signal from the decoy, the joint team raided the facility, recovering Rs 14,500 of the marked currency hidden beneath a sheet on the examination table. According to officials, Nadeem admitted to paying Rs 500 to a doctor at RN Hospital for a fraudulent referral slip.

Verification revealed that Dr Kabir possessed only an MBBS degree and lacked the qualifications to perform diagnostic ultrasounds. Further, the centre’s management had formally notified the Meerut Chief Medical Officer (CMO) on June 5, and that the facility was completely shut down. Neither the doctor nor the ultrasound machine was registered under the PCPNDT Act, 1994, officials said. The PCPNDT Act was designed to prohibit prenatal sex determination and prevent female foeticide.

However, the enforcement action faced severe disruption during the handover of suspects to local police. An individual identified as Chandrashekhar Singh arrived with a group of supporters, obstructed the official duties of the health team, and successfully fled with one of the primary suspects, Yogesh, who claimed to be the owner of the facility. Owing to this interference, both Yogesh and Chandrashekhar remain at large, an official said.

The team, however, were successful in detaining and handing over the broker, Nadeem, and the operating doctor, Kabir, to the Sardhana Police who arrested them, an official said.

Subsequently, an FIR was registered on Thursday evening at the Sardhana police station invoking criminal conspiracy, voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from discharging their duties, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, cheating by personation, officers said. Additionally, the accused face charges under various sections of the PCPNDT Act and Section 34(2) of the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act, which penalises unauthorised medical practice.

Further, the registered medical practitioner of the centre, Dr Shaila Rahman, and another associate, Dr M Chandra, have also been named as accused in the FIR, officers said.

This came in the wake of Gurgaon health department spearheading similar such crackdowns, including decoy operations across Faridabad, Bijnor, and Greater Noida, targeting networks that transport pregnant women from Haryana to illegal clinics in Uttar Pradesh to evade the former’s strict monitoring.