Warangal police break up sex-selective abortion gang Police Commissioner A V Ranganath said that 18 persons, including doctors, were arrested

A joint operation by the anti-human trafficking unit (AHTU) and Task Force police in coordination with KUC Police, led to the busting of a gang involved in carrying out prenatal sex determination tests and abortions.

Warangal Police Commissioner A V Ranganath told reporters here on Monday that the gang had spread its wings in Warangal and Hanmakonda districts. The police arrested 18 members of the gang and seized from them three scanners, 10 mobile phones and Rs 73,000 cash from them, the Police Commissioner said. A few gang members are still at large.  

Acting on complaints that a gang had been doing sex-selective abortions (the practice of terminating a pregnancy based on the predicted sex of the infant), the police launched an investigation and it led to the busting of the gang. The gangsters were doing sex-selective abortions and female foeticide. 

A special team, consisting of the AHTU, Task Force, along with the officials of the District and Medical Health Department, was formed to investigate the racket. The team conducted decoy operations during the investigation. 

The kingpin of the racket, Vemula Praveen, who had earlier worked at scanning centres as a technician, in a bid to make a fast buck, embarked on the illegal venture. His wife, Sandhyarani, rented a house at Venkateshwara Colony, Gopalpur, under the limits of KUC Police Station and started running an illegal sex determination scanning centre. Praveen has set up a secret network by teaming up with Registered Medical practitioners (RMPs), PROs, private hospital management, medical staff and some doctors. 

The Police Commissioner said that the gangsters had conducted abortions in large numbers at some hospitals, like Lotus Hospital at Hanmakonda, Gayatri Hospital, Upender (Pardhu) Hospital at Nekkonda and Balaji Multi-Speciality Hospital at Narsampet.

The charges for each abortion ranged between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000. At least 100 abortions were conducted illegally. 

The arrested are Vemula Praveen, Vemula Sandhyarani, Dr Balne Parthu, Dr Moram Aravinda, Dr Moram Srinivas Murthy, Dr Balne Poornima, Balne Pradeep Reddy, Kaita Raju, Talla Arjun, D Pranay Babu, Keerthi Mohan, Kongara Renuka, Bhukya Anil, Chengelli Jagan, Gannarapu Srilatha, Bandi Nagaraju and Kasiraju Dilip.