ED attaches 50 immovable properties of Dr Namratha of Srushti Fertility Centre

The Enforcement Directorate has attached 50 properties worth about Rs.50 crore linked to a fake surrogacy and child trafficking racket allegedly run by Dr Namratha through Universal Srushti Fertility and Research Centre.

Hyderabad: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Hyderabad Zonal Office, has provisionally attached 50 immovable properties unearthed during the investigation into Universal Srushti Fertility and Research Centre under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).

The attached properties are in the form of land parcels, flats and 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.

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The ED initiated the investigation on the basis of multiple FIRs registered by the Gopalapuram Police Station, Hyderabad, for fraud, cheating, criminal conspiracy, illegal surrogacy and child trafficking. Dr Namratha, who ran Universal Srushti Fertility and Research Centre, allegedly provided childless couples with newborn babies through a surrogacy racket orchestrated through her clinic along with employees and agents, ED officials stated.

Officials said the investigation revealed that Dr 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 newborn babies were sourced from poor and vulnerable parents who were unable to raise the child or wanted to abort the pregnancy.

“A network of agents and sub-agents was 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 baby 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 Such deliveries were conducted at her hospital in Visakhapatnam as the licence of her Secunderabad hospital had been revoked by the authorities,” ED officials said.

Further, the birth reports forwarded to municipal authorities were allegedly forged and reflected the names of the childless couples as parents instead of the biological parents. ED investigation revealed that she had been involved in this racket since 2014 and continued the fake surrogacy operation even after multiple cases were registered against her and her medical licence was suspended by the authorities.

The investigation revealed that several couples were cheated in this manner and huge amounts were collected from them through cheque and cash. Part of these amounts was paid to agents as 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 further utilised for making payments to agents and sub-agents, who in turn made payments to the biological parents of the trafficked babies,” officials added.

During the 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 using proceeds of crime.

The ED had earlier arrested Dr Namratha on February 12 this year under Section 19 of the PMLA, and she is currently in judicial custody. Further investigation is under way.