Hyderabad, Aug 12 (IANS) Hyderabad police have transferred fake surrogacy and child trafficking racket cases to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Central Crime Station.
The racket was busted by Gopalapuram police last month with the arrest of Dr. Athaluri Namratha, owner of Universal Srushti Fertility Centre and her associates.
S. Rashmi Perumal, Deputy Commissioner of Police, North Zone, initially FIR was filed on July 27 against Dr. Namratha and her associates for defrauding a couple with fake surrogacy claims.
Investigation into the initial complaint revealed a wider network of deceit, with multiple victims coming forward with similar allegations of cheating, organised medical fraud and child trafficking.
During the course of investigation, police arrested 25 individuals, including doctors, lab technicians, managers/supervisors, agents and biological parents of the trafficked babies, all of them connected with an illegal surrogacy and baby-selling racket operated under the guise of fertility treatments at the Universal Srushti Fertility Centre at both Secunderabad and Visakhapatnam branches.
The DCP said Gopalapuram Police registered eight more criminal cases against Dr Namratha and several of her associates, for their alleged involvement in an extensive illegal surrogacy and child trafficking racket. These individuals are accused of running an organised criminal network under the guise of fertility services, systematically exploiting vulnerable couples both emotionally and financially.
In one of the cases, the accused took Rs. 22 lakhs from the victim couple in the guise of doing surrogacy, and later, a dead child was shown to the couple as their child. It was revealed in the investigation that an unconnected pregnant woman had delivered the child who later died due to health complications.
In another case, the victim paid 12.5 lakhs for surrogacy procedures, but the identity of the surrogate was not revealed to them.
In yet another case, the victims paid around 19 lakhs for surrogacy procedures and a pre-term girl was handed over to them. Though their samples were collected for embryo formation, the baby’s DNA did not match theirs. On enquiry, the accused threatened them, which led them to file the complaint.
A separate case was registered against Dr Namratha for fraudulently using the name of 90-year-old gynaecologist Suri Shrimathi and her medical license details on all her official letterheads and other medical documents to mislead the victims.
Considering the gravity of the offences, cases have been transferred to CCS SIT for further investigation.
According to the DCP, 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.
At delivery time, babies were procured from vulnerable mothers through a network of agents and handed over to clients, falsely claiming they were from their own samples. 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 deceived the victims. It was revealed 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 to 40 lakh in each case,” said the DCP.
She was previously involved in about 15 criminal cases, including Gopalapuram, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Guntur, in which some were compromised and others are still under trial in the courts.
The pattern of deception highlights coordinated efforts across cities, medical malpractices, and child trafficking, indicating a criminal syndicate which exploits loopholes in fertility laws. The accused Namratha created the network with her agents in many states in India. The network systematically targeted emotionally distressed couples and monetised their desperation with complete disregard for human rights, medical ethics, and the law, added the police official.
–IANS
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