Female egg donation racket: IVF centre in Nashik sealed, probe committee formed

Nashik, Mar 5 (PTI) Authorities in Maharashtra's Nashik have sealed an in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) centre here in connection with the alleged illegal human egg extraction and surrogacy racket, and also set up an inquiry committee, officials said on Thursday.

A racket involved in the alleged illegal human egg extraction and sale in Thane district's Badlapur came to light recently.

In some of the documents recovered in Badlapur, the mention of Malti IVF Centre in Nashik was found. As a result, the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) has sealed that centre, the officials said.

A squad of the civic health department raided the IVF centre located in the Mumbai Naka area of Nashik on Wednesday and recovered documents from there. The authorities also cancelled the registration of the IVF centre and sealed it, they said.

An inquiry committee has been set up for a detailed inquiry and checking of the documents taken in custody from the centre and the inquiry report will clarify whether violation of rules was on at the Nashik centre or not, the officials added.

"Some irregularities were going on at the IVF centre. Therefore, action has been taken against it. The centre has been sealed and documents have been seized," NMC's chief health officer Dr Vijaykumar Devkar said.

The racket came to light in Badlapur after a woman complained that she had not been paid for an egg donation. This led to a raid on the residence of the alleged kingpin, Sulakshana Gadekar (44), where hormonal injections were recovered.

Investigators suspect that an interstate network is involved in the crime.

According to police, data seized from mobile phones suggest that donor women were lured with offers of Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000. They were transported to Bengaluru, Telangana, Nagpur, Pune, and Nashik for extraction after receiving hormonal injections at Gadekar's residence. PTI COR NP