Illegal sex determination centre being run in Nagamangala farmhouse raided, 3 arrested

MANDYA: In yet another case of prenatal sex determination and illegal abortion, three people have been arrested while carrying out a scan at a farmhouse at Mavinakere in Nagamangala taluk on Thursday night. However, the main accused, Abhishek, managed to escape.

A team led by District Health Officer Dr Mohan raided the farmhouse and found abortion kits and a scanning machine, which have been seized by the police. A woman from Hassan, who had come for sex determination test was also present at that time. The arrested are farmhouse owner Dhananjay, Health Department Group-D worker Nagamani and the pregnant woman’s husband Manohar.

Speaking about the raid, DHO Dr Mohan said they had received a tipoff about the illegal scanning and abortions being done in the farmhouse and had been planning the raid for the last two months. “We sent a pregnant woman as a decoy. She was told to come near Bellur. During the raid, Dhananjay tried to attack our staff while Abhishek was conducting the scan. Abhishek is wanted in cases Baiyappanahalli and Pandavapura”, he said.

“They were conducting scans for the decoy and the other woman Teju who was brought in a car from Hassan. The woman already has two girl children and hence, had come for a scan. During the raid, we found AB2 kits and tablets and we are now looking into where it was purchased from. While three have been arrested, the police are on the lookout for Abhishek”, he added.

Earlier, such illegal abortions and scanning was being done in a jaggery making unit and health department quarters in the district. The DHO has appealed to the public to inform the authorities about any such illegal scanning and abortion centres.