Hyderabad police have traced financial transactions allegedly linking fertility centres with agents in an illegal oocyte donation racket, as investigators examine how women were recruited, medically screened and directed to facilities for egg donation procedures. The findings emerged during five days of questioning of eight accused persons arrested in the case, according to Begumpet police and sources cited in the investigation.
Police said agents received payments from fertility centres and subsequently passed money to women recruited as donors. Investigators also identified the centres to which eggs collected from the women were allegedly supplied, sources said. The questioning began on Wednesday and concluded on Sunday, with the accused expected to be produced before a court and sent to judicial remand on Monday.
Four fertility centres — Padmaja Fertility Centre, Narmada Fertility Centre, Oasis Fertility Centre and Fertilica Fertility — have figured in first information reports registered by different police stations, including Malakpet, Filmnagar and Jubilee Hills. Their alleged involvement is under investigation, and the report does not establish criminal liability against the centres.
According to the investigation, the alleged network involved agents who recruited women, arranged accommodation in hostels and apartments, and coordinated their medical screening and egg donation procedures. Many of the women were reportedly brought from other states. They were allegedly paid between ₹30,000 and ₹60,000 for donating their eggs, while agents handled recruitment and coordination with fertility centres.
The women were reportedly taken for blood tests, sonography and other screening procedures before the donation process. Sonography was used to assess the development, size and maturity of ovarian follicles and determine suitability for the procedure, according to the report. Investigators also said the women were administered hormonal injections to stimulate their ovaries and facilitate the development of multiple eggs. Their menstrual cycles were medically synchronised so that subsequent procedures could be conducted within the same period.
The financial trail is now a central part of the probe. Investigators are examining communication records and transactions involving donors, agents, assisted reproductive technology banks and fertility centres. Technical evidence is being used to track payments made by centres to agents and the subsequent distribution of money to women, sources said.
The case places the focus on the institutional chain surrounding assisted reproductive services, rather than only on the agents who recruited the women. Police will now examine financial transactions, donor records, medical procedures and links between the fertility centres and agents. The investigation has so far concentrated primarily on agents and the women recruited as donors, with the role of the named centres still under examination.
