TNN | Updated: Oct 28, 2018,| 07:47 IST |
CHENNAI: A private doctor and one of his aides at Edappadi in Salem district were arrested for sex determination, based on complaints from the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services, on Saturday. As the duo were remanded in judicial custody, Salem police are searching for a key agent of the doctor.
Revealing sex of foetus is a violation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 as it increases risks of sex-selective abortions.
On Friday, laparoscopic surgeon Dr C Kannan of Arvind Hospital, who teamed up with agents Hamsa and Chinathambi, was caught red-handed by the health department officials when he revealed the sex of the baby to a decoy recruited by the inspection team.
The department retrieved Rs 10,000 cash they had sent through the decoy from the doctor and his team. “They have been working together for more than six weeks now. The modus operandi was worked out by Hamsa,” said DSP Thomas Alexander. Hamsa, however, was absconding, he said.
During inquiry Chinathambi said he would get Rs 500 to pick women from Salem region and bring them to the hospital by 3pm every day. Hamsa, who would be waiting at the hospital, would take them to Dr Kannan. “Scans are done only after 6.30pm as they thought no government official would inspect them at that hour. But we got reports from other doctors in the area. There were no records of scans, nor were written reports in soft or hard format. They were told about the sex orally and all records in the machines were also deleted,” he said.