Badlapur IVF racket: ED seizes ₹29 lakh cash, freezes bank lockers, mutual funds

The ED is probing suspected money laundering, seizing ₹29 lakh and identifying properties and investments potentially linked to the alleged proceeds.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized cash worth ₹29 lakh and frozen several bank lockers and mutual fund (MF) investments during searches conducted on Friday as part of its money-laundering investigation linked to the Badlapur human egg trafficking racket.

The investigation is based on a case registered by the Thane police against a syndicate allegedly involved in a major illegal fertility scam in Badlapur. (Raju Shinde/HT)

The searches also led to the recovery of incriminating documents and digital devices containing details relevant to the case, according to officials aware of the developments. The agency has identified more agents involved in supplying egg donors, and their roles in the racket are now being examined, officials said.

The investigation is based on a case registered by the Thane police against a syndicate allegedly involved in a major illegal fertility scam in Badlapur.

The syndicate allegedly lured financially vulnerable women towards egg donation, offering them ₹25,000 to ₹30,000 per cycle. It then repeatedly subjected the women to hazardous, unsupervised egg extractions to sell to in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) centres and assisted reproductive technology (ART) banks through agents, who received commissions.

The ED is examining the financial transactions linked to the alleged racket. According to officials, Friday’s searches led to the identification of a few immovable properties and investments, involving substantial amounts, which are suspected to be linked to the proceeds of crime in the case. The searches were conducted at 10 premises, including hospitals and IVF centres in Thane, Baramati and Nashik, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

How the human egg trafficking racket worked (HT PRINT)

The investigation has revealed the use of forged documents, including Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, affidavits, consent letters, birth certificates, blood test reports, and insurance papers, to conceal donors’ identities, facilitate repeat egg donations, and falsely establish their medical fitness, officials said.

“Thereafter, the women were sent to various establishments in Maharashtra and other states for human egg retrieval, thereby exposing them to potential medical risks and circumventing prescribed medical safeguards,” said an ED official, requesting anonymity.

The racket was uncovered on February 19, 2026, when police found that an IVF centre registered in Nashik was allegedly operating an unauthorised facility in Thane without the required licences and approvals. According to investigators, women were allegedly paid between ₹25,000 and ₹30,000 per cycle and recruited repeatedly as egg donors, despite restrictions on repeated donations.

The Thane police’s charge sheet in the case names 17 accused, charged with cheating and forgery under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with violations of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.