Sex test case: Accused paid woman Rs 1,000 to use her house in Ludhiana

LUDHIANA: Investigations into the sex determination racket busted by the health department team on Sunday found that Mandeep Kaur, whose house was being used to run the racket, used to get Rs 1,000 per test for use of her house. Identifying pregnant women for tests was the work of another woman identified as Ritu. Police said that the accused did not always make an accurate assessment about the gender of the foetus, which was why they would frequently change their set-up from one place to another.
A health department team led by Dr Harpreet Singh, district family welfare officer, conducted a raid at a house in village where a sex determination test center was being run at the house owned by Mandeep Kaur, who works as a nurse at a charitable hospital.
Police also arrested Manmohan Pal Sharma of Janakpuri area and Ritu of Sahnewal in the case. A portable ultrasound machine was recovered from the spot.
Inspector Amandeep Singh Brar said, “During questioning, police found that the main accused, Manmohan Pal Sharma already had three FIRs registered against him for the same offence. After coming out on bail, he started running the racket again with different people. Manmohan’s job was to get a machine and conduct ultrasound tests to reveal the gender of the foetus, while the task of bringing pregnant women was assigned to Ritu.”
According to inspector Brar, Ritu came in touch with Manmohan a few months ago. The accused used to set up the center at different places for a few months before changing location.
“When a center would be set up at a village, Ritu would go around the village and surrounding clinics to meet pregnant women. She would persuade them to get the test done, for which the accused would charge about Rs 30,000, from which Ritu would get about Rs 4,000. Besides, she would also visit different clinics to find pregnant women,” Inspector Brar said.
During one such visit to a charitable hospital, Ritu met Mandeep, who told her that they did sex determination tests and needed to contact pregnant women.
Thereafter, they also used Mandeep’s house to run the centre. However, the inspector said that Mandeep’s role in searching for or bringing pregnant women for the test has not been established yet.
When asked if the accused had hired a doctor for the test, the inspector said, “Manmohan used to get the test done, however, he was not an expert. He confessed that most of the time, he would guess the gender and tell the parents. As they would frequently change the location of their centre, people who were told the wrong gender could not find them again.”
After the health department raid, Manmohan offered Rs 10 lakh to Dr Harpreet Singh and also arranged Rs 4.98 lakh advance. However, the doctor informed the police, after which a case on charges of corruption was also lodged against him.