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The Hyderabad police have arrested a fertility doctor, Dr Namratha, for allegedly cheating a couple by promising them a child through surrogacy, but handing them over the 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 arrests.
Police said that Namratha had been running the clinic despite having her medical license suspended in the past over various lapses. Police have arrested eight persons in the case, including Namratha, an anesthesiologist from the government-run Gandhi Hospital named Dr Sadanandam who was involved in the operations, and the biological parents of the baby.
Namratha allegedly collected Rs 30 to 35 lakh from the couple for the surrogacy procedure, and paid around Rs 80,000 to 90,000 to the biological parents of the baby, police said.
Hyderabad North Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police S Rashmi Perumal told the media that the couple seeking fertility treatment visited Namratha at her clinic in August 2024.
“Namratha advised them against IVF and told them to opt for surrogacy. She told them that the clinic would arrange the surrogate for them. The couple went to a Visakhapatnam branch of the clinic to give their specimens. They were then told a surrogate had been arranged and the embryo transplantation was completed. Nine months later, in June 2025, they were told the baby was delivered. After the handover, the couple expressed doubts and performed a DNA test which showed no match with either of them,” Rashmi said.
Upon inquiry, police found out there were several different cases against the clinic in the past, the DCP said. She added that despite having her medical license cancelled, Namratha continued to run fertility clinics in Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam, performing unauthorised procedures.
Simultaneous raids were held on the clinics in Hyderabad and Vizag, leading to the arrest of eight persons. The fertility centre had agents to find vulnerable women looking to sell their babies, and they bought the baby from one such Hyderabad-based couple from Assam, Rashmi said.
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.