The Enforcement Directorate’s Hyderabad Zonal Office has provisionally attached fifty properties valued at Rs 29.76 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act related to an illegal surrogacy racket. Dr. Pachipalli Namratha, also known as Athluri Namratha, operated the racket under the name Universal Srusthi Fertility & Research Centre. These properties include land parcels, flats, and a hospital, collectively estimated at around Rs 50 crore, belonging to Dr. Namratha and her sons.
The ED’s investigation stemmed from multiple FIRs filed by the Gopalapuram Police Station in Hyderabad concerning fraud, cheating, criminal conspiracy, illegal surrogacy, and child trafficking. Dr. Namratha facilitated the provision of newborn babies to childless couples through a surrogacy scheme involving her clinic, employees, and agents. The investigation uncovered that the babies were obtained from financially struggling parents who sought to terminate their pregnancies.
A network of agents and sub-agents was identified as part of the racket, responsible for sourcing pregnant women in need and incentivizing them to relinquish their newborns after birth. Dr. Namratha allegedly paid significant amounts, Rs 3.5 lakh for a female child and Rs 4.5 lakh for a male child, for these babies. The deliveries took place at her Visakhapatnam hospital after her Secunderabad hospital’s license was revoked.
