Mandya officials bust abortion racket; 3 held

Mandya: In a decoy operation, health department officials unearthed a foeticide racket and took three persons involved in scanning and abortion of female foetuses into custody.
According to health department officials, they contacted a gang involved in scanning and abortion through a woman. The health officials gave money to the woman to pay the gang to trace the gang’s location.This operation was led by DHO Dr Mohan.
“Around 7.30pm on Thursday, the decoy operation was launched at Bellur Cross in the district. Even though we were not able to follow the gang, which was moving in a car, we were able to stop them while returning after performing the scanning. Based on the information we collected during the inquiry, we were able to trace a house in Mavinakere in Nagamangala taluk where scanning and abortion kits were given to pregnant women,” he stated.
“During the operation, we rescued a woman from Hassan, who is the mother of two girls and was pregnant for the third time,” the DHO said. After the scanning, the woman was informed that it was a girl child and she was given an abortion kit by the gang, he added.
“During our operation, it was found out that a person was running this abortion racket at numerous places. He is an accused in previous incidents of abortion rackets reported in the district. We lodged a complaint with the Mandya police seeking action against him under the PNDT Act,” he said.
According to sources, the officials took an X-ray technician who has also worked in a scanning centre, a nursing assistant who is working at an old age home and another person from Hassan into custody in connection with this foeticide racket.