Key Accused Confesses as Police and ED Intensify Hunt for Victims in Fertility Scam

Hyderabad:Teams investigating Universal Fertility Centre-linked illegal surrogacy case are in the process of locating the women admitted at its facilities in Secunderabad and Visakhapatnam.

While a team of the Enforcement Directorate kept a close vigil on the centre’s alleged financial irregularities, the Hyderabad police have intensified their efforts at identifying the victims in the case, especially babies, vis-a-vis child trafficking incidents.

Police said that Dr A. Namratha, a key accused in the case, confessed to have committed child-trafficking and illegal surrogacy. She allegedly extracted huge amounts from couples.

Based on call data and the WhatsApp data of the arrested persons in the case, the police started inquiring into the involvement of more persons and trying to identify the victims.

The police had a tough time identifying the victims and collecting the babies’ details as Dr Namratha maintained different K-sheets in which she allegedly furnished false details of the couples, patients and women. Even online data was also insufficient vis-à-vis the patients admitted in the Universal Fertility Center for the past few years, cops said.

Based on the confessional statement given by the arrested accused so far, the investigation teams are trying to locate the women admitted in the fertility centres in Secunderabad and Visakhapatnam. The police managed to get data by getting statements from Namratha and the other accused in police custody.

The ED is likely to register cases based on the FIR registered by the Hyderabad police in relation to the alleged illegal money transactions.