Hyderabad: Court allows police custody of prime suspect in surrogacy case

A Hyderabad court granted five-day police custody of Dr P Namrata, arrested in a fake surrogacy scam. The case surfaced after a Rajasthan couple found the baby’s DNA did not match theirs. Police say vulnerable women were exploited as surrogates

Hyderabad: A local court on Thursday granted five-day police custody of Dr P Namrata, the prime suspect in a surrogacy scam case. Dr Namrata was arrested along with others, including her staff at the Srushti Fertility Center in Secunderabad, for allegedly conducting fake surrogacy procedures earlier this week.

The Gopalpuram police had filed a petition seeking seven-day custody of Namrata, who is currently under judicial remand in prison. The court examined the petition and, after hearing arguments from both sides, granted police custody starting from Friday.

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The medical scam came to light after a couple from Rajasthan found that the DNA test of the baby given to them as their surrogate child did not match either parent.

Investigations by the Gopalpuram police so far have revealed that Namratha, along with her associates and agents, targeted vulnerable women and turned them into surrogate mothers for money.