NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Dr Athuluri Namratha on Thursday in connection with the ongoing probe into an illegal surrogacy racket in the name of Universal Srusthi Fertility and Research Centre.
She was produced before the court at Nampally in Hyderabad, wherein she was sent to judicial custody till February 26.
The federal agency arrested Namratha under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The agency initiated an investigation based on multiple FIRs registered by the Gopalapuram Police Station, Hyderabad, for fraud, cheating, criminal conspiracy, illegal surrogacy and child trafficking.
She orchestrated a surrogacy racket along with her employees and agents. She and others involved were arrested by the police following an investigation. However, she was on bail since November 27, 2025.
During the probe, statements of Namratha and her associates were recorded in judicial custody. Searches were conducted at various premises, which resulted in the seizure of documents revealing her involvement in the racket since 2014.
“Investigation revealed that she continued the surrogacy racket even after multiple cases were registered against her and her medical license was suspended by the authorities,” the agency said.
The agency also found that 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,” the agency said.
During the probe, it was found 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“Such deliveries were conducted at her hospital in Visakhapatnam as the license of her Secunderabad hospital was revoked by the authorities. Further, the birth reports forwarded to the municipal authorities were forged by her and reflected the names of the childless couples as parents instead of the biological parents,” the agency said.
Several couples seeking a child were cheated, and huge amounts were collected from them through cheques and cash.
“Part of these amounts were paid to the agents / sub-agents as their commission and also to the biological parents of the trafficked babies,” the agency said.