Unlicensed Fertility Lab Busted, 7 Held

Hyderabad:In a joint operation, Gopalapuram police and task force officials raided a private fertility laboratory operating without necessary permissions and booked seven individuals under multiple provisions of the law, including Sections 21, 26 and 27 of the BNS and relevant clauses of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021.

The teams found that the facility was collecting and processing sperm from 17 men and eggs from 11 women without the required approvals or medical supervision.

The centre, reportedly run by Pankaj Soni, was functioning without registration and had bypassed ethical medical protocols. Soni was taken into custody and served notice, along with the clinic’s cashier Sampath, staff members Sreenu and Jitender Kumar, and two brokers, Shiva and Manikantha. One woman egg donor was also named in the FIR.

The police expressed concern over the illegal procurement and storage of gametes and the involvement of middlemen, which raised serious questions about patient safety and possible exploitation.

The premises were sealed, and medical records and semen samples were seized.

Further investigation is underway to trace the wider network and determine links with other clinics.