HYDERABAD: In a major crackdown, the Malkajgiri special operations team (SOT) and law and order police rescued 43 women and arrested nine persons during raids at Begumpet, Erragadda, Saroornagar and Gopalapuram.
Police commissioner B. Sumathi said the women, brought from different states, were lured with payments of up to ₹30,000 per egg donation and kept in rented houses before being referred for fertility procedures.
Eight persons were arrested in Begumpet and Saroornagar, while businessman Emirishetty Durga Prasad was held in Saroornagar. The accused include Amit Sharma, prime organiser from Prakashnagar, Begumpet, who had been running the racket for two years, paying ₹50,000 rent monthly.
Others arrested were Nikkat Parveen, recruiter from West Bengal; Reshma Khatoon, agent; Meghavath Srinivas, coordinator; Jepray Pradeep, ART manager; Sk. Parveen, role under probe; Vijay Bhagwah Rao Salunke, documentation; and Pankaj Soni (52), intermediary.
Raids led to the seizure of documents, mobiles, vials of injections, syringes, needles and tablets. Investigators are probing whether hormonal drugs were administered to prepare women for egg retrieval.
Preliminary findings show recruiters targeted financially vulnerable women in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, promising ₹20,000–₹30,000 per cycle. Police are verifying medical histories, recruitment circumstances, consent and links with fertility centres and ART banks. Suspected forged Aadhaar cards, affidavits and financial transactions are also under scrutiny.
Three cases have been registered — one at Begumpet and two at Saroornagar — under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021.
The operation was supervised by Commissioner Sumathi with senior officers from LB Nagar and Malkajgiri zones. Police appealed to the public to report suspicious recruitment or accommodation of women in the name of employment or fertility services.
The identities and circumstances of the rescued women are being verified, while the joint teams are examining whether the alleged activities were carried out in violation of prescribed medical and legal safeguards.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
