Doctor caught conducting gender determination tests in Ahmedabad

For the first time in the city, a gynaecologist as well as his agent have been nabbed red-handed for the second time for conducting gender determination tests. The doctor, Paresh Sheth, practised in Shah Alam. He was caught conducting the sex determination test in a sting operation carried out by a team led by Ahmedabad district development officer Bhargavi Dave, central district health officer Shilpa Yadav, and ACP Kanan Desai, on Wednesday. Sheth's agent, Ashok Patel, was caught when he came around to Sheth's clinic to settle accounts in the evening. The two accused were allegedly involved in the dubious trade since 2005.

Sheth and Patel were booked under the Pre-Conception & Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) Act. The raiding team, for the first time, did not involve the nodal officer from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).

Back in 2009, Sheth was convicted after failing to submit details of sonography tests he conducted. These details have to be submitted to the nodal officer before the 5th of every month. As punishment, Sheth was made to sit in court for the whole day and pay a fine of Rs 1,000 in cash. He was then let off. Patel, on the other hand, represented the first case in Gujarat (in 2012) of a person being remanded in police custody under the PC-PNDT Act. Patel, back then, acted as an agent to Dr Hemang Shah in Naroda, who conducted tests using a portable sonography machine.

Both Sheth and Patel charged each of their clients Rs 12,000 for the sex determination test. On Wednesday, the raiding team had identified an agent, Shakina Mansuri, a former midwife with the AMC who was known to Patel. Mansuri and the pregnant lady (decoy acting on the behalf of the raiding team) sat in an autorickshaw organized by Patel. The auto took them to Sheth's clinic in Shah Alam in the morning. "When our decoy asked for the sonography report, Sheth replied that it would be given to her in the evening," says Dave. "In the evening Sheth was to collect his share from Patel. The mandatory form 'F' carrying details of the patient was not filled. Patel will reveal the identities of more doctors involved in this death trade."