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Two weeks after a surrogacy scam first came to light in Hyderabad, police said they had received a complaint from another couple who discovered that the baby they believed to be theirs through surrogacy was not genetically related to them.
Over the past few days, eight additional FIRs have been registered against Dr Namratha who ran the Universal Srushti Fertility Centre in Hyderabad, and her associates, police said. The case will now be transferred to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the Central Crime Station (CCS), said Hyderabad North Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) S Rashmi Perumal.
Namratha was arrested on July 27 for allegedly cheating a couple who approached her for fertility treatment. After Namratha claimed to have arranged a surrogate for them, the couple found that the baby she handed over to them did not match their DNA.
Police found that Namratha and her associates had cheated the couple by giving them a baby whose biological parents were a Hyderabad-based couple from Assam. She had allegedly collected around Rs 30 lakh from the intended parents for the surrogacy procedure, and paid around Rs 80,000 to the biological parents of the baby.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, August 12, DCP Rashmi Perumal said that eight additional FIRs were registered against Namratha and her associates, and 25 people have been arrested so far.
“There was one more case with absolutely similar contents [as the first case of DNA mismatch]. A couple who opted for surrogacy was handed over a baby girl around the first week of July in Vizag. They too tested for DNA and got a mismatch. They alleged that the accused threatened them when asked about it,” the DCP said.
In another case, complainants were shown the body of a baby and told it had died during delivery. When they asked questions, the accused refused to respond and later told them it would cost another Rs 15 lakh to repeat the procedure. “The same set of accused was identified in that case as well, operating from the Secunderabad and Vizag branches of the clinic,” Rashmi added.
Other complaints came from clients who had already paid between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 20 lakh for surrogacy and were awaiting the birth of a baby in the coming months, the DCP said.
Apart from the fresh complaints, police have identified at least 15 earlier cases against the same accused in Hyderabad, Vizag, and Vijayawada between 2010 and 2020. While the accused reached settlements with complainants in some cases, others are still under trial, the DCP said.
According to the police, there were several agents involved in the fake surrogacy network that spans multiple cities.
Clients who paid for surrogacy were told that the embryo transplantation was done, and would be sent ultrasound images and other updates for a while, according to the police. “When the delivery date approached, they would identify a vulnerable pregnant woman through their agents, bring her to Vizag for the delivery and hand the baby over to the clients. Agents had fixed rates – Rs 3.5 lakh for a girl child, Rs 4.5 lakh for a boy,” Rashmi said.
Some agents were women who had previously acted as surrogates for other couples, she added. The accused have now also been charged with organised crime.
Police had earlier arrested Dr Sadanandam, an anesthesiologist at the government-run Gandhi Hospital, for allegedly performing illegal procedures at the Srushti clinic. They have since arrested Dr Vidyulatha, a pediatrician who handled deliveries in Visakhapatnam.