JOIN USThe Maharashtra police arrested Dr Babasaheb Khidrapure, the prime suspect in the sex determination and abortion racket in Belagavi on Tuesday.
The Miraj police brought him to Mhaisal village. He was produced before the magistrate’s court, which remanded him in police custody till March 17. Praveen Jamdade (35), husband of Swati (26) who died during a forced abortion, was also arrested.
Maharashtra Health Minister Deepak Sawant and Women and Child Welfare Minister Pankaja Munde will travel to Sangli.
“We scanned the entire Sangli district. We managed to arrest the main suspect,” Sangli SP Dattatreya Shinde said.
Khidrapure has a bachelor’s degree in homoeopathy and was operating without licence. The hospital is 10 km from the Karnataka border and had two basements, where the suspect is said to have carried out thousands of female foeticides. Police recovered 19 foetuses. Belagavi, police were unaware of Khidrapure’s arrest.
Belagavi district officers are checking hospitals in the border areas to check illegal abortions.