Hyderabad, July 29: Indian police have arrested eight people, including a fertility doctor and a government hospital anesthetist, for allegedly operating a baby-selling racket under the guise of a surrogacy and IVF clinic in the southern city of Hyderabad.
Authorities said the accused, led by 64-year-old Dr Athaluri Namratha, ran the now-defunct Universal Srushti Fertility Centre, which had continued operations despite its licence being cancelled in 2021. The arrests followed a complaint by a city-based couple who alleged they were given a child under a fraudulent surrogacy arrangement that was later proven through DNA testing to have no biological link to them.
“The couple had paid Rs 3.5 million ($42,000) after being assured the child would be biologically theirs,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (North Zone) S Rashmi Perumal told reporters. “This was not surrogacy. This was a baby-selling network exploiting poor women and deceiving vulnerable couples.”
Among those arrested were Dr Namratha’s son and advocate P Jayanth Krishna, an anesthetist from a state-run hospital, two clinic employees, an agent, and the biological parents of the infant, who were reportedly paid Rs 90,000. Police said the parents, originally from Assam, were residing in Hyderabad and that the child was born in Visakhapatnam before being handed over to the couple.
Investigators allege that the clinic sourced babies from financially distressed pregnant women and sold them as surrogates’ offspring to clients seeking fertility treatments. “Documents, including a forged birth certificate, were fabricated to show the child as biologically related to the complainants,” the DCP added.
The couple, who first approached the clinic in August 2024, were led to believe their embryo had been implanted into a surrogate and received regular updates over nine months. Suspicion arose after delivery in June 2025, when they were asked to pay an additional Rs 200,000 in delivery charges and later found no DNA test had been conducted to verify parentage.
After an independent test in a Delhi-based lab revealed no genetic match, the couple approached Gopalapuram police, leading to the raid and seizure of the Gopalapuram clinic and its affiliated centres in Kondapur, Visakhapatnam, and Vijayawada.
Health department officials, who joined the crackdown, said the clinic had repeatedly misled inspectors by appearing shut during routine checks. “We found IVF and pregnancy-related equipment, as well as devices for sex determination and other illegal procedures,” said Hyderabad District Medical and Health Officer Dr J Venkati.
Authorities said this is not the first time Dr Namratha has come under scrutiny. In 2016, the Telangana Medical Council suspended her licence after an NRI couple alleged their child, handed to them through surrogacy, was not biologically theirs. In 2020, she was arrested in Visakhapatnam in connection with a newborn trafficking case.
Police said at least 10 previous cases have been registered against Dr Namratha and her clinic across Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, and Guntur. Seven of the eight arrested have been sent to judicial custody, while a clinic employee from Visakhapatnam is being brought to Hyderabad for questioning.
Commercial surrogacy is banned in India under a 2021 law that allows only altruistic surrogacy by close relatives of the intended parents. Police said investigations are ongoing and more victims and accomplices may be identified.
