A court in Sriganganagar rejected the bail application of Abohar resident Sharda Devi Oberoi, a retired nurse of Punjab Health Department.

A Pre-conception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) team of Rajasthan had in a decoy operation in Abohar had arrested the 72-year-old nurse for an alleged deal determining the sex of the fetus.

ASP Dr Hemant Jakhar said that the team had received information that a middle-man, identified as Rajiv Kumar, has been taking pregnant women to Abohar to get the gender of the fetus tested. The information was found substantial in the preliminary inquiry.

The PCPNDT team contacted Rajiv Kumar and sent a pregnant woman as a decoy client who contacted Sharda Devi Oberoi at Abohar. She took the woman to a private ultrasound center. After examination here, she told the decoy client that she would give birth to male child. When the decoy client gave a signal, the team took the retired nurse into custody.

The incharge of the ultrasound center vehemently denied having any connivance. As the pregnant woman was not asked to fill the statutory F form, the ultrasound machine was seized, it was being examined.

National Health Mission MD Bharti Dixit said that the department will continue such action in collaboration with neighboring states to eradicate the evil of sex determination.