Hyderabad doctor's baby-selling racket: ED traces Rs 40 cr cash trail, attaches 50 properties

Pregnancy (Image: Canva)

• ED uncovers Rs 40 crore cash deposits in surrogacy racket probe
• 50 properties worth Rs 29.7 crore provisionally attached by ED
• Funds allegedly disguised as medical and surrogacy expenses

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has uncovered a sprawling financial network allegedly used to launder proceeds from an illegal surrogacy and baby-selling racket linked to Hyderabad-based doctor Pachipala Namratha, with investigators tracing nearly Rs 40 crore in cash deposits, Rs 20 crore in withdrawals and provisionally attaching 50 properties valued at Rs 29.7 crore across Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada, TOI reported.

According to the agency's provisional attachment order, the money trail spans more than a decade and was allegedly structured to disguise the illegal purchase and sale of newborn children as legitimate medical and surrogacy expenditure.

Decade-long racket, phase-by-phase

The ED estimated the total proceeds of crime at Rs 29.7 crore, calculated on the basis of average amounts allegedly charged to childless couples at a clinic in Visakhapatnam between 2014 and July 2025, as well as money collected from victims allegedly cheated in the name of IVF treatment, TOI reported.

The provisional attachment order breaks down the estimated illegal surrogacy deliveries into three distinct phases. Between 2014 and 2018, investigators estimated 72 deliveries at an average of Rs 10 lakh each, pegging the total at Rs 7.2 crore. From 2019 to 2023, the figure rose to an estimated 110 deliveries at an average of Rs 14 lakh each, amounting to Rs 15.4 crore. For 2024 and 2025, 31 deliveries were estimated at an average of Rs 23 lakh each, adding a further Rs 7.1 crore to the tally.

Cash trail and layered fund movement

A key focus of the investigation was a set of bank accounts connected to Namratha, her relatives and hospitals linked to her. The ED found that between 2014 and 2025, around Rs 40 crore was deposited in cash into these accounts, while approximately Rs 20 crore was withdrawn in cash over the same period, the report said. Investigators believe this cash movement was used to pay agents and procure newborns from vulnerable biological parents.

The agency also reportedly mapped what it described as a three-tier structure for the movement of funds. At the first level, childless couples allegedly paid between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 30 lakh per child through cheques, bank transfers or cash into Namratha's accounts. At the second level, funds were transferred to lead agents — including one identified as Dhanasri Santoshi — while large sums were allegedly withdrawn in cash almost immediately to obscure the trail. Payments at this level also included Rs 14.60 lakh to an associate identified as SSS Sai Kumar.

At the third level, payments allegedly reached biological parents directly — with around Rs 3.5 lakh paid for a female child and Rs 4.5 lakh for a male child. Sub-agents and couriers were said to have received commissions of approximately Rs 50,000 per case, with variations depending on each delivery, TOI reported, citing the attachment order.

Namratha reportedly claimed the funds in question came from consultancy services, rental income and agricultural income. However, the ED said she failed to provide satisfactory explanations for the large volume of cash transactions, particularly during periods when her medical licence was suspended.

Hospitals, villas and farmland attached

Among the 50 properties provisionally attached are the Universal Srushti Hospital building in Secunderabad, a hospital building in Vijayawada and an under-construction hospital building in Maharanipet in Visakhapatnam. A five-storey building in Siddharthanagar, Visakhapatnam, which generates rental income, has also been attached, the report said.

Other assets listed in the order include multiple flats in Jayanth Towers in Bachupally held in the names of Namratha and her husband, a residential plot in Shilpa Enclave in Kondapur, flats in Rams Pride Apartment and other locations in Vijayawada and a villa at Palm Ridge Villas in Kondapur — where Namratha is said to have resided.

The attachment further covers more than 15 parcels of agricultural land in Balemarru village in Guntur district and Dharanikota in Amaravati, land in Nunna and Vedurupavuluru near Vijayawada and vacant plots in Madhurawada in Visakhapatnam and Kukatpally in Hyderabad.

The ED said the scale of cash movement, the acquisition of properties and the layered structure of financial transactions together illustrate how the alleged proceeds of crime were generated, circulated and converted into assets over more than a decade, TOI reported.