HYDERABAD: Although a doctor from Gandhi Hospital was aware of the illegal activities taking place at Universal Srushti Fertility Centre, he still administered anaesthesia to the patients sent by the facility, according to the remand report.
The 41-year-old anaesthetist, Nargula Sadanandam, was among eight persons arrested in connection with an illegal surrogacy and baby-selling racket allegedly operated by the Srushti Fertility. The arrest took place on July 27. Police said four other accused remain at large.
According to the remand report, Sadanandam knowingly administered anaesthesia to patients at the unregistered Srushti centre in Secunderabad. The report stated that he regularly visited the facility despite being aware of its illegal status.
Among the arrested is Dhanasri Santoshi, described as a housewife who allegedly worked as an agent. Police said she identified and lured financially vulnerable women to act as surrogate donors, offering them money and introducing them to the main accused, Dr Pachipala Namratha.
Namratha allegedly collected `30.26 lakh from a couple on the promise of a surrogacy procedure. The woman was later sent to a branch in Visakhapatnam, where her gametes were collected. Investigators claim a surrogate was then implanted with an embryo that did not originate from the couple.
The remand note further states that fake hospital records were created and a child was later handed over to the couple. When they discovered through a DNA test that the child was not biologically related to them, they confronted Namratha. She reportedly asked for the test report and then blocked their contact numbers. After repeated efforts, the couple were able to contact her and demanded that the child be returned to the biological parents.
The remand report says: “It is evident that Dr Namratha and her associates deliberately misrepresented facts, misused gametes (which they now fear may have been sold or disposed of illegally), fabricated a surrogacy process and handed over a child unrelated to the victim couple.”
The case was initially registered following a complaint by a 36-year-old woman at Gopalapuram police station, who alleged fraud, cheating, and criminal conspiracy by Namratha and her associates at the fertility centre’s branches in Secunderabad and Visakhapatnam.
On Thursday, a local court granted the police five days’ custody of Namratha.
Fast and loose
The 41-year-old anaesthetist, Nargula Sadanandam, was among eight persons arrested in connection with an illegal surrogacy and baby-selling racket allegedly operated by the Srushti Fertility. The arrest took place on July 27. Police said four other accused remain at large. Sadanandam knowingly administered anaesthesia to patients