Beed:
Police have filed a charge sheet against 17 persons, including a doctor couple, arrested in connection with illegal abortion and female foeticide case, police said.
The charge sheet was filed on Monday in Parli tehsil court against the doctor couple-- Dr Sudam Munde and his wife Saraswati-- and 15 others, Deputy Superintendent of Police Swati Bhor said.
The couple is accused of carrying out abortion on sugarcane worker Vijaymala Patekar, who was in her second trimester, at their hospital in Parli on May 18 this year, which resulted in her death. On May 19, the couple had secured bail from Parli court and went into hiding from May 23.
The bail was subsequently cancelled by the sessions court in Ambejogai in the district on May 26 on petition of the district health department in a 2010 case under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act.
Former in-charge of this case, police inspector Ramrao Gadekar had allegedly not framed charges against the duo properly, which had reportedly helped them get bail.
Ambajogai court had earlier said that Gadekar had played a "dubious role" in making an application to the court to temporarily remove charges against the doctor couple under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act and PCPDNT act.
In August 2012, the DGP had ordered suspension of Gadekar and the case was transferred to Dy SP Swati Bhor. The doctor couple absconding for over three weeks had finally surrendered to the local police on June 17.
Others, who have been charge sheeted in the case include the doctor couple's son Venkatesh, Jalgaon-based Dr Rahul Kolhe, husband of the deceased woman Mahadev Shankar Patekar and members of the hospital staff.
Public Prosecutor Atul Tandle said that, the first hearing of the case would be held on September 15 at the Parli court.