The cops arrested nine people, two are on the run.
In Bengaluru's Byanahalli, the police had set up a routine check post on October 15. The cops noticed a vehicle "moving suspiciously" and told the occupants to stop the car. Little did the cops know that the driver and the occupant were part of a massive female foeticide ring in Karnataka and the accidental checking at the post busted a major racket.
The Byanahalli police questioned the two people inside the car, who confessed that they ran a female foeticide ring in Karnataka and carried out over 200 illegal abortions in the last three years.
The two confessed that they were operating out of Mysuru and Mandya in Karnataka and conducted over 900 sex determination procedures and 240 illegal abortions. The police launched a massive hunt to arrest the other accomplices after the racket was accidentally discovered.
Following an extensive search, nine people were arrested by the cops. Commissioner of Bengaluru Police, B Dayanand, said, "We have caught a gang involved in sex determination tests. They illegally terminated pregnancies. The accused include three lab technicians, two doctors, two locals and two hospital managers. Two people are on the run and a search is on to arrest them."
The gang used to conduct sex determination tests on pregnant women and terminate the foetuses if they were found to be female, the senior cop told the media on November 28.
They charged Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 for a sex determination test and an additional Rs 50,000 to terminate the pregnancy if the foetus was female, the police said.