Sex determination racket busted in Satara; 3 caught red-handed

Dr Yamini Adbe,child rights activist and member of the Pune district PCPNDT cell,told The Indian Express that she received a complaint from one Imran Shaikh and his four-month pregnant wife Ayesha Shaikh from Dehu Road about Satara-based “doctors” being involved in illegal sex determination of foetus. They were also booked as bogus doctors,Adbe said.

Imran said one Dr Yashwant Satpute working at a private hospital on Dehu Road told them about the Satara doctors and the procedure to be followed by pregnant women who wanted to know the sex of the foetus.

Adbe alerted Dr Vinayak More,Deputy Director,Health,Satara,who then contacted the PCPNDT nodal office in Pune. Dr Asaram Khade,state PCPNDT consultant,sent a state-level vigilance team of Dr Vaidya and former DIG Chandrakant Kumbhar along with Adbe who conducted a raid on Sunday. Ayesha agreed to pose as a decoy in the raid. “We gave them Rs 25,000 to pay the agents who then led the couple to the doctor,” said More.

According to Adbe,the couple was sent to Mhaswad village,80 km from Satara,where a youngster on a bike gave instructions on how to reach the spot where the doctor would be waiting to conduct the sonography. “It was just like in films,where the information to reach the doctor was given by unknown persons who posed as agents. On reaching a particular spot in the village,the woman was told to go alone with the youngster on the bike to a clinic,” Adbe said.

Imran,however,insisted on accompanying his wife and they were taken to a dimly-lit room in a house at a deserted place. “By then they started suspecting that an official team was following them and decided not to proceed. However,they took us into an Omni van close by. There were curtains on the windows of the van. A portable machine was used for the sonography that was conducted by Dr Vilas Sawant. He told the agent,Arun Sawant,that ‘barfi baatni hain’ (distribute barfi — which was a code that the foetus is a girl; pedha meant a boy),” said Imran.

Adbe,along with the vigilance officers who were following the couple,immediately went to the van and caught the doctors red-handed. Dr Asaram Khade,however,could not be contacted for comment.

Assistant Inspector S Kore of Mhaswad police station said,”We have registered a case of destruction of evidence against the agent,Arun Sawant,who is on the run. As per the PCPNDT Act,the authorities probe the matter and file a chargesheet in court later. Though this looks like a racket prima facie,further probe will throw light on how deep it runs.”

As per the provisions of the Act,no arrests are made but the machines and equipment are sealed. Sources said a probe would be carried out to see if others from Pune and elsewhere had undergone tests for sex determination.

State Vigilance Officer Chandrakant Kumbhar,a retired DIG,said a case had been registered under the PCPNDT Act against Dr Dilip Rajge,who has a hospital at Mhaswad in Satara. The sonography machine has been sealed. “Apart from evidence from the decoy,we have taken the statement of a woman who was waiting at the hospital for sex determination test. Rajge also helped agent Sawant flee. Cases will also be registered against suspects Vijay Sawant,who had allegedly conducted the ultrasound in the Omni van,and Yashwant Satpute who works at Bansal hospital on Dehu Road and was a link to direct patients to those in Satara who conducted the sex determination test,” said Kumbhar.

The team of Kumbhar,Dr Dilip Vaidya and Adbe conducted the raid.