Std XII passout ran sonography tests, held along with doc for female foeticide

Pune: In the last 15 days, a school passout with just a Class XII degree under his belt has been arrested along with a medical practitioner for conducting sonography tests for sex determination under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act .Superintendent of police, Pune Rural, Sandeep Singh Gill, on Wednesday evening said, “We are looking for more people in the case — including two medical practitioners of Bhor. We have established their role, even as they are on the run. All the suspects ran a sex determination racket together and prevented the birth of many a girl child.”The SP said, “Since 2024, the suspects carried out several abortions in hospitals spread across Pune rural and Satara and Ahilyanagar districts. It’s a case of female foeticide.”“We have seized the sonography machine and arrested its owner, Annasaheb Giri, who is a Class XII passout. Giri bought the machine in 2024 and was misusing it since. He has admitted that he would conduct the illegal sex determination tests himself,” Gill said.Police have also arrested a medical practitioner, Atul Ankush Jadhav of Lohegaon-Wagholi Road. Jadhav used to refer pregnant women to Giri for sex determination, he said.The identity of the agent who also brought in women was established as Narendra Raosaheb Thakare of Wagholi. He has already been arrested by the Pune city crime branch in a case registered with the Wagholi police station earlier this year, Gill said. “The two doctors from Bhor have also been identified and booked. They are on the run, as our teams look for them.”Gill said that on May 14, a medical practitioner (40) of Manjari stumbled upon a video on sex determination and raised an alarm. “On May 19, the video was verified and a case was registered with the Yavat police station under various provisions of the PCPNDT Act. On May 20, we arrested Giri and then Jadhav on May 24. We seized the sonography machine owned by Giri from his house in Kedgaon in Daund on May 30,” he added.Witness statements of 15 people have been recorded and one has tendered a statement before the court, he said.Gill explained Giri’s background. “After Class XII, he took admission in a pharmacy course, but left his studies soon. He started to work as a medical representative and came in touch with a doctor from Phaltan in Satara. Giri learned to use a sonography machine from him and started doing sex determination tests. In 2024, he procured his own sonography machine and began to conduct tests from his own house,” he said.Police said Giri used to charge between Rs30,000 to Rs50,000 as per the income of the woman and her family members. “Documentary evidence has been collected and incorporated into the case. We have also obtained bank statements of the arrested men,” he said.BOX:Racket spread across dist to Pune city & Pimpri Chinchwad tooThe Pune rural police carried out a technical analysis of Giri’s mobile phone and examined his call details as of others and found that the racket was spread across the district — including Uruli Kanchan, Indapur, Phaltan, Ahilyanagar, Lonikand and Bhor taluka — as also Pune city and Pimpri Chinchwad. Police suspect that some doctors from Bibvewadi and Chinchwad were referring patients for illegal sex determination tests to Giri and around 15 doctors are under scrutiny currently.The police have also identified individuals in regular contact with Giri. Meanwhile, his interrogation has yielded several crucial leads.