Illegal Surrogacy and Egg Donation Racket Uncovered in Hyderabad

On August 16, 2025, Hyderabad’s Petbasheerabad police arrested eight individuals, including a mother-son duo, for running an illegal surrogacy and egg donation racket. The accused lured financially vulnerable women from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh to serve as surrogates or egg donors. The main accused, Narreddula Laxmi Reddy, was once a surrogate herself. She and her son, Narender Reddy, orchestrated the scheme in collusion with six fertility clinics across Hyderabad. Investigators seized ₹6.47 lakh, promissory notes, and medical supplies from her residence and nearby clinic settings.

Further Investigation

Investigators began combing through documents, digital records, and seized mobile phones immediately after the August 16 operation. They uncovered that the racket had been running for more than two years under the cover of fertility services. Police found that the organizers targeted vulnerable women, often from financially weak backgrounds, and convinced them to enter surrogacy arrangements for payments that were much lower than promised.

The probe revealed that several local clinics acted as silent partners in the scheme. Officials discovered fake medical reports and forged consent forms that were used to push the surrogacy process through. These documents often bore counterfeit signatures of doctors who were either unaware or deliberately kept out of the paperwork. Investigators also traced multiple bank accounts, where payments from clients, many of them from outside India, were routed to shell companies before being withdrawn in cash.

During interrogation, the arrested mother-son duo admitted that they managed a network of brokers across Hyderabad and neighboring districts. These brokers scouted women and lured them into contracts with promises of high returns. Police further established that the gang maintained links with certain foreign nationals who contacted them through encrypted messaging platforms. The group charged wealthy clients exorbitant sums, sometimes upwards of ₹25 lakh per case, while the surrogate mothers received a fraction, ₹2 lakh, of that money. She housed these women at her residence and collected undefined maintenance fees from collaborating IVF centers. Police now investigate whether these clinics acted knowingly or merely as intermediaries.

As part of the follow-up investigation, cybercrime specialists joined the team to retrieve deleted chats and financial trails. Officials also began cross-checking hospital records and fertility clinic registers, which revealed discrepancies in patient entries. Some clinics reported cases that did not match the identities of the supposed patients, strengthening the suspicion that forged IDs were routinely used.

Broader Network Under Scientific Scrutiny

Law enforcement now believes the racket extended beyond Hyderabad, with possible connections to other states where similar scams had been reported earlier. To strengthen the case, the police are preparing to seek assistance from the Enforcement Directorate to trace the money laundering angle. Senior officers also stated that they would recommend a wider regulatory audit of fertility clinics to ensure compliance with the Surrogacy Regulation Act, 2021.

This bust comes amid a broader crackdown on fertility clinics across the region. Earlier in July, law enforcement exposed a baby-selling scam linked to the Universal Srushti Fertility Centre, where babies were purchased for as little as ₹90,000 and sold for upwards of ₹35 lakh. Aggrieved families uncovered fraud via DNA tests and then triggered a police investigation. That case has now climbed to 17 arrests, including the detention of a Visakhapatnam-based doctor at the airport.

Government Bodies Step In

Responding to mounting evidence of systemic malpractice, the Telangana government formed a three-member committee of high-ranking medical authorities to audit fertility clinics statewide. The panel will verify clinic registrations and compliance with national surrogacy regulations. The move signals structural acknowledgment of widespread abuse in the fertility services sector.

Assisted reproductive services exist to help families, not to harvest bodies or baby dreams. The involvement of medical professionals and the scale of deception undermine the integrity of healthcare. This bust reveals how fragile reproductive rights become when greed infiltrates science. We must not let this moment fade. Otherwise, the next “miracle baby” could cost many women far more than they can ever recover.

Read more: ED Cracks Down on Major Illegal Construction Scam in Vasai-Virar