Cuttack: A special squad of the Health and Family Welfare (H&FW) department today arrested the owner of an illegal sex determination and female feticide centre along with his wife, following a raid carried out yesterday on a rented house at Roxy Lane under Badambadi police limits in Cuttack.
The two arrested were identified as centre owner Nijeet Mohapatra and his wife Mamina Mohapatra. Another accused named Ramachandra alias Bhikari Parida managed to give a slip to the squad.
An official source said that the squad conducted simultaneous raids in the presence of Deputy Collector Alakarani Debata at three different places leading to the arrests and seizure of some medical equipment including two potable ultrasound machines which were being used for prenatal sex determination.
The H&FW officials also seized some medicines kept for use to execute female feticides.
Places where raids were carried out also include a unit each in Arunodayanagar and Dolamundai. Local police have seized CCTV footage from the illegal centre. Nijeet’s son, a few doctors and some staff of the centre are also involved in the illegal activity, a senior official of the raid team suspected.
Notably, the district Health department sealed an Operation Theatre (OT) and cancelled the renewal license of the health facility, Additional Health Officer (AHO) Batakrushna Mahala expressed.
