Surrogacy racket, money-laundering: ED attaches properties worth Rs. 29.76 cr of arrested Hyderabad doctor

Hyderabad: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), had revealed that a Hyderabad based woman doctor had run a fake surrogacy racket and passed on babies born to other couples for hefty amounts to childless couples.

The ED's Hyderabad Zonal Office, on Tuesday has provisionally attached 50 immovable properties valued at Rs. 29.76 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 during the course of investigation in illegal surrogacy racket run by Dr Pachipalli Namratha alias Athluri Namratha in the name of Universal Srusthi Fertility & Research Centre.

The attached properties are in the form of land parcels, flats as well as a hospital in the name of Dr Namratha and her sons and the present market value of these properties is estimated to be around Rs. 50 Crore. ED initiated investigation on the basis of multiple FIRs registered by the Gopalapuram Police Station, Hyderabad for fraud, cheating, criminal conspiracy, illegal surrogacy and child trafficking.

Pachipalli Namratha was providing childless couples with new born babies on the basis of a surrogacy racket that she had orchestrated through her clinic along with her employees and agents. PMLA investigation revealed that Namratha collected huge sums of money from childless couples on the promise of delivering a baby through a surrogate mother.

To project the procedure as genuine, their gametes were collected for implantation into a surrogate mother. However, the new born babies were sourced from poor and vulnerable parents who were unable to raise the child and wanted to abort the pregnancy. A network of agents and sub-agents were found to be involved in the racket for arranging poor and needy pregnant women and luring them with money to give up their child as soon as the child was born.

Investigation further revealed that Dr Namratha used to pay around Rs.3.5 Lakh for a female child and Rs. 4.5 Lakh for a male child. Such deliveries were conducted at her hospital in Visakhapatnam as the license of her Secunderabad hospital was revoked by the authorities. Further, the birth reports forwarded to the municipal authorities were forged by her and reflected the names of the childless couples as parents instead of the biological parents.

ED investigation also revealed that she was involved in this racket since 2014 and that she continued the fake surrogacy racket even after multiple cases were registered against him and her medical license was suspended by the authorities. ED investigation revealed that several couples were cheated in this manner and huge amounts were collected from them by way of cheque and cash.

Part of these amounts were paid to the agents / sub-agents as their commission and also to the biological parents of the trafficked babies. Analysis of the bank accounts maintained by Dr Namratha confirmed the modus operandi wherein the funds collected from the childless couples were found to have been further utilized for making payments to the agents / sub agents and from there, further payments were made to the biological parents of the trafficked babies.

During PMLA investigation, several properties were identified in the name of Dr. Namratha and her sons and payments for many of these properties were found to have been made in cash out of the Proceeds of Crime. ED had earlier arrested Dr Namratha on February 12, under section 19 of the PMLA and presently she is in judicial custody.