New Delhi, Mar 10 (UNI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Hyderabad Zonal Office, on Tuesday said it has attached fifty immovable properties valued at Rs 29.76 crore during the course of investigation in an alleged illegal surrogacy racket being run by Dr. Pachipalli Namratha alias Athluri Namratha in the name of Universal Srusthi Fertility & Research Centre.
The attached properties include land parcels, flats, and a hospital in the name of Dr. Namratha and her sons. The present market value of these properties is estimated to be around Rs 50 crore.
The ED initiated the investigation on the basis of multiple FIRs registered by the Gopalapuram Police Station, Hyderabad, for fraud, cheating, criminal conspiracy, illegal surrogacy, and child trafficking. Dr. Pachipalli Namratha alias Athluri Namratha, through Universal Srusthi Fertility & Research Centre, allegedly provided childless couples with newborn babies through a surrogacy racket orchestrated via her clinic along with her employees and agents.
The PMLA investigation revealed that Dr. 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, the gametes of the couples 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, arranging poor and needy pregnant women and luring them with money to give up their child soon after birth. The investigation further revealed that Dr. Namratha used to pay around ₹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Such deliveries were conducted at her hospital in Visakhapatnam after the license of her Secunderabad hospital was revoked by the authorities. Furthermore, the birth reports submitted to municipal authorities were allegedly forged, showing the names of the childless couples as parents instead of the biological parents.
The ED investigation revealed that she had been involved in this racket since 2014 and continued the illegal surrogacy operations even after multiple cases were registered against her and her medical license was suspended by the authorities.
The investigation also found that several couples were cheated in this manner and large sums of money were collected from them through cheques and cash. Part of these funds was paid to agents and sub-agents as commission and also to the biological parents of the trafficked babies.
Analysis of the bank accounts maintained by Dr. Namratha confirmed the modus operandi, showing that the funds collected from childless couples were routed to agents and sub-agents, who then made payments to the biological parents of the trafficked babies.
During the PMLA investigation, several properties were identified in the name of Dr. Namratha and her sons, and payments for many of these properties were found to have been made in cash using the proceeds of crime.
The ED had earlier arrested Dr. Namratha on February 12, 2026, under Section 19 of the PMLA, and she is currently in judicial custody. Further investigation in the matter is underway.
