Hyderabad, July 29 (IANS) In the crackdown against illegal fertility centres following the busting of an illegal surrogacy and baby-selling racket, Hyderabad police conducted searches at an unregistered fertility lab on Tuesday.
The North Zone Task Force team, with the help of the Clues team, collected evidence from the centre at the Regimental Bazar in Secunderabad.
The police, along with the officials of the Health Department, seized some material relating to sperm samples collected from some individuals. They also seized documents and records, including Aadhaar cards of the sperm and egg donors and others from the facility.
The Task Force detained seven people for following the raid by Health department officials on the unregistered fertility centre in Secunderabad.
Those detained include the centre’s manager, Pankaj Soni. The officials were questioning him and others as part of the investigation into allegations that they were doing unauthorised reproductive procedures in violation of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021.
The others detained by the police are Sampath, working as the cashier, K. Srinu, an employee from Visakhapatnam, Jitender Kumavat, a native of Indore, L. Shiva, and P. Manikanta, both acting as brokers, and Kansri Boro, an egg donor from Assam.
A team of officials from the office of the District Medical and Health Officer (DM&HO) began searches with the help of police on Monday night. The searches continued on Tuesday.
The centre was allegedly being run without registration from the District Registering Authority and was collecting semen and eggs without authorisation.
There are allegations that the centre was collecting semen and eggs from donors from daily wage labourers, beggars, and pedestrians by paying them commission. These samples were allegedly being sold to private healthcare facilities.
During the raid, the officials found 17 sperm donors and 11 egg donors present on the premises.
According to officials, the centre was being operated by unqualified staff. Following a formal complaint lodged with the Gopalapuram police, a case was registered under Sections 21, 26, and 27 of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021.
Health authorities began a crackdown on surrogacy and IVF centres operating without registration.
Several unregistered fertility centres are believed to be operating across Telangana, exploiting gullible couples. The state has 381 registered centres, including 158 within the limits of Greater Hyderabad.
The officials were also conducting inspections at the registered centres to check any violation of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021.
The crackdown began close on the heels of an illegal surrogacy and baby-selling racket by the Gopalapuram police with the arrest of a doctor and nine others.
Dr. Athaluri Namratha alias Pachipala Namratha, owner of Universal Shristhi Fertility Centre in Secunderabad, was arrested on allegations of conducting a large-scale illegal surrogacy and fertility scam.
The racket came to light after a couple lodged a complaint with the police after DNA tests revealed that the child born through a surrogate arranged by the fertility centre was not biologically related to them.
The investigations revealed that the couple were directed to another branch of the clinic at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh for the collection of specimens and were told that the surrogate would be arranged by the clinic and the embryo would be transplanted to the surrogate.
Last month, the couple was handed over a baby boy, saying the surrogate delivered the baby boy in Visakhapatnam. The clinic took over Rs 35 lakh from the couple as consultation charges for the procedures.
The investigation revealed that the couple was handed over a child born to a couple from Assam. The child’s parents were also among those arrested.
–IANS
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