PhD scholar held for abortion, wife’s death

HYDERABAD: A PhD scholar’s unwillingness to have a third girl child led to the death of his wife and unborn baby due to a botched up abortion in Suryapet district.
On Monday, the PhD scholar, Ratnavath Harisingh, was arrested along with five others and booked on three counts — sex determination test, female foeticide and death of his wife.
The seventh accused in the case is absconding.
According to police, Ratnavath and Suhasini got married in 2019 and have two daughters, aged four and two-and-half years. When his wife got pregnant for the third time, Harisingh and his family members wanted a boy. He threatened to desert Suhasini and marry someone else, if she delivered a girl again.
The family lives in Chivvemla village of Suryapet.
A week ago, Harisingh decided to go for a sex determination test of the foetus, and approached two technicians — Ranapangu Gopi and Shaik Saidulu — working at Vijaya Hospital in Kodad.
He was referred to the duo by a local registered medical practitioner, Amaragoni Naveen.
Huzurnagar hospital sealed by Telangana health department
The hospital staff put the couple in touch with Kammampati Guruvaiah, who eventually conducted the test on June 23 and confirmed that Suhasini was carrying a female child.
“Upset with the news, the family took Suhasini to Shaik Khasim, working at Kamala Hospital in Huzurnagar, for abortion. Though only a manager, Khasim conducted the procedure with the help of Devarakonda Rani, a nurse at the facility,” said a police official.
“When local scribes got a whiff of this, Khasim quietly shifted Suhasini to his house in Huzurnagar to avoid trouble.”
The hospital has been sealed by the Telangana health department.
As Suhasini’s condition started deteriorating, the family first shifted her to Vijaya Hospital in neighbouring Mattampally town and later took her to Khammam. Doc tors there advised them to shift Suhasini to Hyderabad, but she died on the way to the city on June 25.
Based on a complaint by Suhasini’s parents, police launched an investigation. “While we have arrested the husband, doctors and technicians involved in the abortion, Guruvaiah, who performed the pre-natal sex determination test, is currently absconding. Teams are on the job to nab him,” said Suryapet SP Sunpreet Singh.