Surrogacy Racket: ED Seizes Documents, Property Details During Searches

(MENAFN- IANS) Hyderabad, Sep 26 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized incriminating documents, details of couples defrauded and properties in possession of Dr Pachipalli Namratha during search operations conducted at nine locations in Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam in connection with the illegal surrogacy racket.

ED, Hyderabad Zonal Office said on Friday that the searches were conducted on Thursday under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with illegal surrogacy racket run by Dr Pachipalli Namratha alias Athluri Namratha in the name of Universal Srusthi Fertility and Research Centre.

The Central agency initiated the investigation on the basis of multiple FIRs registered by the Gopalapuram Police Station, Hyderabad, for fraud, cheating, criminal conspiracy, illegal surrogacy and child trafficking.

Searches conducted by the ED resulted in the seizure of documents, which revealed that she was offering such services to couples across India in different centres in Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Nellore, Kolkata, etc. Seized documents also revealed that Dr Namratha was involved in these activities for more than 10 years.

She created legal documents in the form of surrogacy agreements to project that the childless couples and carrier (surrogate) themselves approached her, and she was just providing the surrogacy services.

Seized documents also revealed that in one instance, foreign passport-holding parents discovered that the child delivered through her clinic was not their biological child when the child's foreign passport was denied after a DNA test confirmed that the child was not their biological child.

Seized material also includes documents of properties acquired by her out of the Proceeds of Crime. Further investigation is in progress, the ED said.

Dr Namratha was providing childless couples with a child on the basis of a surrogacy racket that she had orchestrated through her clinic, along with her employees and agents. Childless couples were encouraged to opt for the surrogacy method instead of IVF.

In the initial complaint lodged with the police, it was revealed that the couple who had opted for a child through surrogacy had been promised a child through surrogacy by using their own egg and sperm to form embryos, which would be screened and implanted into a surrogate mother arranged by the clinic.

They were further assured that all documentation would be handled by the clinic, and a healthy child would be delivered to the couple after DNA confirmation. For this purpose, Dr Namratha quoted an amount of Rs 30 lakh, of which Rs 15 lakh was paid by cheque and Rs 15 lakh in cash, which was claimed to be paid to the surrogate. Subsequently, a male child was handed over to the couple. However, DNA verification confirmed that the child was not their biological child.

Agents were also found to be involved in the racket by arranging poor, vulnerable and pregnant women and luring them with money to give up their child as soon as the child was born.

ED investigation revealed that several couples were cheated in the aforesaid manner by Dr Namratha, and huge amounts were collected from them by way of cheque and cash. Part of the amount was paid to the surrogates/women who gave up their children, and the agents who facilitated the process got their commission, the agency said.

The majority of the proceeds of crime were kept by Dr Namratha, who used them for personal purposes, including the acquisition of properties.

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