The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has conducted searches at at least 10 premises, including hospitals and IVF centres, in Thane, Baramati and Nashik districts in connection with an alleged illegal human egg extraction and sale racket, Nation Press reported on Thursday.
Source: Nation Press
Investigators seized Rs 29 lakh in cash, froze bank lockers and mutual fund investments, and recovered documents and digital devices during the searches, according to the report. The ED initiated its money-laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR and chargesheet filed by Badlapur (East) police station naming Manjusha Wankhede and 16 others.
The police case alleges cheating, forgery and violations of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021 and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. The alleged network is accused of recruiting financially vulnerable women for egg donation through paid agents, using forged identity documents to enable repeat donations and conceal medical histories, and sending women across Maharashtra and other states for egg retrieval without adequate safeguards, the report said.
More than 40 women were allegedly exploited by the network, which offered payments of Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per cycle, according to a separate report on the ED searches. One woman allegedly underwent egg extraction 33 times, investigators suspect.
Source: OB News
The ED is tracing commissions paid through agents, payments from IVF centres and investments in property for possible proceeds of crime under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. Further arrests and asset attachments are expected as the probe widens, Nation Press reported. The allegations have not been proved in court.
A detailed account of the case said the racket first surfaced after a woman complained to health authorities in Badlapur that she had not been paid for an egg donation, and that the ED's searches covered fertility centres, hospitals, sonography facilities and properties linked to arrested agents.
Source: Consigliere by Intelaw