A well-known radiologist, who is also an honorary secretary of the Delhi Medical Association, was on Saturday arrested along with five others for allegedly conducting sex determination tests at his Dwarka clinic.
The arrested persons include touts, middlemen and two women who had come for a test. They were nabbed following a joint raid by the Delhi and Haryana government teams.
It is alleged that Dr. V.K. Mutreja, who was running Vishank Diagnostic Centre in Dwarka’s Central Market, had been conducting these illegal tests for years.
Most of his clients were women from neighbouring Haryana where the sex ratio is already skewed. Officials suspect that Dr. Mutreja could be part of a larger racket involving other doctors.
“A decoy pregnant lady brought by the Haryana team and another lady who came there on her volition underwent sex determination test, violating pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic test (PC and PNDT) law and leading to the arrests,” said a statement issued by District Magistrate (South-West) Madhu Teotia.
SDM (Dwarka) J.B. Kapil, who was a part of the team, said the middleman who the decoy lady contacted had fixed a deal for Rs. 24,000. “Following his arrest, he revealed that Rs. 12,000 was to be given to Dr. Mutreja. We suspect that this is the standard rate they charge for carrying out the illegal activity,” said Mr. Kapil.
Those arrested include Dr. Mutreja, middlemen Rakesh and Pawan, a female tout Mukesh, Reena, who came for the test allegedly on her own, and her mother-in-law Sarla.
Mr. Kapil said that Mukesh and Dr. Mutreja had known each other for over a decade and came in contact while working for the same hospital where she was a mid-wife.
Conspirators
Two conspirators, identified as Ashok and Rajesh, are absconding. “Their exact roles are yet to be ascertained, but what we know is that one of them is working with State Bank of Hyderabad and the other runs a chemist shop,” said Mr. Kapil.
The police have seized an ultrasound machine which the accused were using as a portable device to avoid detection. The law states that such devices should be fixed at one place and used only after permission which needs submission of exact location of installation.
During interrogation, Dr. Mutreja claimed that he had folded up his business a fortnight ago but was under pressure from his former accomplices to conduct one more test.
An FIR has been registered in this connection with Dwarka North police station, the DM’s statement said.
