Hyderabad, Aug 12 (PTI) Twenty-five people, including doctors, have been arrested for allegedly running a fake surrogacy and child trafficking racket busted here last month, police said on Tuesday.
Eight people, including Dr A Namratha–the prime accused– Doctor and owner of a fertility clinic and her associates were earlier arrested for “defrauding” a couple with fake surrogacy claims, based on an FIR was filed on July 27 at Gopalapuram Police station.
Investigation into the initial complaint revealed a wider network of deceit, with multiple victims coming forward with similar allegations of cheating, organized medical fraud and child trafficking, police said.
Eight more criminal cases were registered against Namratha and her associates.
They are accused of running an organised criminal network under the guise of fertility services, systematically exploiting vulnerable couples both emotionally and financially, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North Zone- Hyderabad) S Rashmi Perumal said.
In the course of investigation, police so far arrested 25 individuals including doctors, lab technicians, managers, agents and (biological) parents of the trafficked babies.
All of them were allegedly linked to the illegal surrogacy and baby-selling racket operated under the guise of fertility treatments at the Universal Srushti Fertility Centre’s branches in Secunderabad and Visakhapatnam, a release from Hyderabad Police said.
The victims paid lakhs of rupees for IVF treatments and later for surrogacy procedures.
On the modus operandi of the accused, police said Dr Namratha established multiple fertility clinics in Secunderabad, Kondapur, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Nellore, Rajahmundry, Bhubaneswar, and Kolkata.
She initially claimed to treat patients for infertility and later promoted surrogacy, assuring that all legal formalities would be handled by her clinic.
After collecting large sums from clients, she obtained biological samples and provided regular updates on the “progress” of the pregnancy via phone. During delivery, babies were procured from vulnerable mothers through a network of agents and handed over to clients, falsely claiming they were from their own samples, police said.
Fake medical and DNA reports were created to support the deception. In this, the sample of the original mother was used instead of the victim and the accused deceived the victims. It was found that agents were paid Rs 3.5 lakh for a girl and Rs 4.5 lakh for a boy, while clients were charged up to Rs 30–40 lakh in each case, police added.
Dr Namratha was previously was involved in about 15 criminal cases including Gopalapuram, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Guntur, in which some were compromised and other are still under trial in the courts, police said.
Considering the gravity of the offence, with orders of Commissioner of Police Hyderabad, the cases will be transferred to Central Crime Station–SIT for further investigation, the release added. PTI VVK GDK VVK ROH
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