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Following the arrest of fertility doctor Dr Namratha in Hyderabad, police officials have revealed that the doctor had come under their scanner twice before – in 2016 and in 2020. The Hyderabad police on Sunday, July 27 arrested Dr Namratha for allegedly cheating a couple by promising them a child through surrogacy, but instead handed them over a child of another couple.
The arrests were made based on a complaint from a Hyderabad-based couple who had approached Namratha’s Universal Srushti Fertility Centre in Gopalapuram. Namratha allegedly advised them to opt for surrogacy. However, a DNA test showed that the child was unrelated to the couple, which led to the complaint and the subsequent arrest.
Simultaneous raids were held on the clinics in Hyderabad and Vizag, leading to the arrest of eight persons. A case has been registered against Namratha and the others under sections 61 (criminal conspiracy), 316 (criminal breach of trust), 335 (making a false document), 336 (forgery), and 340 (forged document or electronic record and using it as genuine) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and sections 38, 39 and 40 of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021.
According to the police, more than 10 cases have been registered against the accused doctor and her clinic located at Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad and Guntur in the past.
Earlier in 2016, Dr Namratha’s licence was suspended for five years by the Telangana Medical Council for similar allegations; an NRI couple from the US alleged that the newborn given to them, allegedly through surrogacy, was not biologically related. In 2020, the Vizag police arrested Dr Namratha and five others for allegedly trafficking new-born children.
Also Read: Surrogacy scam in Hyderabad: Couple discovers child not biologically theirs
“In the course of investigation, we have established that Dr Namratha and her employees were selling infants to childless couples bought from poor pregnant women. Dr Namratha would convince pregnant women in need of abortion to go through with the pregnancy in exchange for money,” Hyderabad North Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) S Rashmi Perumal told the media.