Unqualified couple, Rs 35,000 per test: Sambhajinagar's third abortion racket in weeks

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

The city is watching the same story repeat itself illegal abortion rackets, unqualified operators, absconding accused, and investigations that go nowhere.

The latest case involves Mangesh Thorat and his wife Minakshi, neither of whom holds any medical qualification, allegedly running Bitel Diagnostic Path Lab out of a residential flat in the upscale N-5 area. The lab’s name board carried no doctor’s name and no operator’s qualification. When exposure became imminent, Mangesh fled. Minakshi, a B.Com graduate, stayed back and allegedly handled everything from diagnostic tests to abortion procedures. Their rural referral network was reportedly well-oiled. In another major development, the crime branch, led by senior police inspector Gajanan Kalyankar, police sub-inspector Arjun Kadam, and Kanchan Mirdhe, raided premises in Rashidpura on Monday night, dismantling a makeshift operation theatre run by Sayed Irshad Ahmed (61), his wife Shaheda Parveen (51), and aide Nasreen Shaikh (47), complete with stored medicines and surgical equipment. A panchnama was conducted on Wednesday. Four doctors are now reportedly linked to the Thorat couple. But the bigger question is what came before. Three rackets in six weeks. The same network doctors, lab operators, unqualified middlemen. The infrastructure is visible. The accountability is not. Preliminary findings suggest abortion-inducing pills were administered. “We have seized around 15–20 abortion tablets, a sonography probe, and diagnostic equipment,” said Pras Mandalecha, Municipal Officer of Health (MOH).

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Rs 35,000 per case through rural network

Doctors and medical shop operators in villages allegedly directed couples seeking foetal sex determination to the Thorats, charging up to Rs 35,000 per case under the promise of confidentiality. Police suspect the same portable sonography machine and tablet linked to earlier busted rackets were in use here as well. The lab, launched in May 2021 likely on forged documents had expanded to a second branch in Palashi taluka, with expensive machinery acquired over five years of apparent impunity. Online records list Minakshi as the director.

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These are the incidents under investigation

• March: An illegal abortion case in Naregaon was linked to radiologist Dr. Santosh Sonawane, a known name in Marathwada’s alleged racket network, and lab operator Anil Jadhav of Febo Domestic Mahalab.

• April 5: Another abortion racket surfaced in Satara, once again involving a lab operator.