New Delhi [India], March 10 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached fifty immovable properties valued at Rs 29.76 crore during investigation in an illegal surrogacy racket being run by a Hyderabad-based doctor in the name of Universal Srusthi Fertility and Research Centre.

The attached properties are in the form of land parcels, flats, as well as a hospital in the name of the accused, Dr Pachipalli Namratha alias Athluri Namratha, and her sons and the present market value of these properties is estimated to be around Rs 50 crore. ED had arrested Namratha on February 12 this year under section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and presently she is in judicial custody.

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https://x.com/dir_ed/status/2031339653777756286?s=20

ED's Hyderabad zonal office attached her properties under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

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ED initiated an investigation on the basis of multiple FIRs registered by the Gopalapuram Police Station in Hyderabad for fraud, cheating, criminal conspiracy, illegal surrogacy and child trafficking.

ED said, "Dr Namratha was providing childless couples with newborn babies on the basis of a surrogacy racket that she had orchestrated through her clinic along with her employees and agents." "PMLA 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 and 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 child was born," said tg3 agency in a statement.

ED investigation further revealed that "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"Such deliveries were conducted at her hospital in Visakhapatnam as the license of her Secunderabad hospital was revoked by the authorities."

Further, the ED said, the birth reports forwarded to the municipal authorities were forged by her and reflected the names of childless couples as parents instead of the biological parents.

ED investigation revealed that "she was involved in this racket since 2014 and that she continued the fake surrogacy racket even after multiple cases were registered against him and her medical license was suspended by the authorities." ED investigation also revealed that several couples were cheated in the aforesaid manner and huge amounts were collected from them by way of cheque and cash. "Part of these amounts were paid to the agents and sub-agents as their 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 found to have been further utilised for making payments to the agents and sub-agents, and from there, further payments were made to the biological parents of the trafficked babies," it said. During the PMLA investigation, several properties were identified in the name of Namratha and her sons and payments for many of these properties were found to have been made in cash out of the Proceeds of Crime. (ANI)

(The above story is verified and authored by ANI staff, ANI is South Asia's leading multimedia news agency with over 100 bureaus in India, South Asia and across the globe. ANI brings the latest news on Politics and Current Affairs in India & around the World, Sports, Health, Fitness, Entertainment, & News. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)