Five more held in abortion racket
Sangli police on Wednesday arrested five more people including two medical practitioners, a pharmaceutical distributor and a nurse in connection with the sex determination and dumping of 19 aborted fetuses in Mhaisal village in south Maharashtra.
With the five arrests on Wednesday, the total number of people nabbed by the police has gone up to seven. Babasaheb Khidrapure, the main accused, and Prabvin Jamdadae, husband of Swati Jamdade, whose death due to over bleeding helped to bust the racket, have already been arrested by the police.
Dr Shirhari Krishna Ghodke, 68, from Nagwad village in Belgavi district and Dr Ramesh Vyankatesh Devgikar of Vijapur district, both in Karnataka, were also arrested.
Their names were disclosed by Khidrapure during the interrogation.
Sangli district SP, Dattatreya Shinde, said that four sonography machines have been confiscated from them, and preliminary investigation has revealed that the machines were used by the doctors to determine the sex of the fetuses.
Police suspect that both the doctors advised pregnant woman to approach Khidrapure after determining the sex of their baby. Police also suspect that Dr Ghodke, who has been practicising as a doctor in Kagwad village in Karnataka, does not possess a medical degree. Sources said that Ghodke has been working as a doctor for more than four decades.
A local pharmaceutical distributor, Sunil Kashinath Khedkar, 35, was arrested in the afternoon.
Shinde said Khedkar used to supply a particular tablet, which is used to terminate pregnancy. The tablet is a scheduled medicine.
Khedkar’s godown and shop – Ratna Distributors – were raided by the Food and Drugs Administration on Tuesday night.
Two staff members at Bharati Hospital – compounder Umesh Jyotiram Salunkhe, 26, and conservancy staff Kanchan Kuntinath Roje, were also arrested. Both are residents of Miraj and helped Khidrapure in destroying the aborted fetuses.
The police carried out two raids at Bharati Hospital in the past three days. They found medical equipment, medicines, injections and x-ray machines which homeopathic doctors are not legally allowed to use.
The notice stuck at Bharati Hospital by the health department also mentions that Khidrapure was running an operation theater illegally, without having proper registration under the Bombay Nursing Act.