Police in Madhya Pradesh have dismantled an illegal sex determination racket, arresting one and investigating others, highlighting the ongoing fight against gender selection.
Police have busted a racket involved in illegal sex determination in Madhya Pradesh's Morena district, and nabbed a man besides filing a case against two of his accomplices, an official said on Tuesday.
The gang was found operating from a hut located along a canal in Hadvasi village, he said.
"A young man informed the police on Monday about a sex determination gang operating in his village. He also recorded a video after observing several women visiting the place," the official said.
Talking to reporters, Baghchini police station in-charge Shashi Kumar said, "A zero FIR was registered in this matter at the Civil Lines police station and the diary has been sent to Baghchini police station, as the incident site falls within its jurisdiction."
A case has been registered against three accused, identified as Sanjay Pachauri, Rakesh Prajapati, and Vikram, he said.
Vikas Sharma, who captured the video, said that he became suspicious after seeing women being frequently dropped to the hut in a van.
Therefore, he went inside the hut to check and found that a sex determination test was being conducted there. Six women were sitting there for their turn to undergo the test, he said.
Sharma said he locked the hut's door from outside and called villagers for help, but before they could arrive, everyone inside fled in a van.
The villagers then chased the van and caught Prajapati, its driver, before handing him over to the police, the police said.
Pachauri, who is the main accused in the case, was a peon at a local government school. He had been suspended in 2024 and was arrested three times previously as part of this racket, they said.
Driver Prajapati told the police that Pachauri had rented his vehicle for Rs 800 per day, and that he would pick up and drop women to and from designated locations for the sex determination test.