Mysuru farmhouse raided, four held for sex-determination test

Mysuru: The Varuna police have arrested four persons, including a woman, on charges of conducting sex determination tests, at a farmhouse in Hunaganahalli Hundi village of T Narsipur taluk in Mysuru district, in a decoy operation. Search is on to nab two more suspects.

The Health and Family Welfare department officials kept a vigil for over two months following a tip-off that sex determination tests were being conducted at villages near Bannur Road in Mysuru taluk.

On Wednesday morning, they conducted a raid on a farmhouse and arrested four people, including a pregnant woman. Two of the arrested are spouses of the pregnant women, who were waiting for the tests.

Police have registered cases against Swamy, Govindaraju, Shyamali, Karthik of Mysuru, Harish Nayaka of Bherya village, KR Nagar taluk, Shivakumar and Puttaraju of K Salundi, Mysuru taluk. A scanning machine and some cash have been seized from the spot.

According to Mysuru District Health Officer Dr P C Kumaraswamy, a team of officials of the department had been to the location, along with a woman, on the pretext of getting a test done and found out that sex determination tests were being conducted at the farmhouse. 

The team comprised of Health and Family Welfare department Deputy Director Vivek Dorai, Mandya DHO Dr Mohan Kumar, Family Welfare Officer Dr Bettaswamy, Radiologist Vijayasarathi, Anil P Thomas, N Arun Kumar, B Mangala and Puttasiddamma.

A case has been registered under the Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, and Karnataka Private Medical Establishment (KPME) Act, according to a press release from the DHO.

It may be mentioned that Mandya Police have arrested 36 people so far, in connection with the sex determination and female foeticide cases that were reported in Mandya district in 2023 and 2024.